Dreaming Orora Page 3

  “One more, come on. Devil’s Horn” Oz said and pulled his bow one more time. He let it fly and it exploded on the tree. Nothing. It still stood tall. It faced Oz and pulled a boulder from the ground. “Oh, damn” was the last thing Oz said before the boulder flattened him to the ground.

  The Trent turned to Fitch and took the final swing at him. Fitch used his ability Shield Bash, which as the name suggested, delivered a bash to the enemy with his shield. It did minimal damage, but its main purpose was to stun the enemy for a second or two. Like Oz said, running was not an option. So Fitch raised his sword and slashed at the Trent. Once, twice and he raised his arm for a third strike when the Trent backed away couple of feet and fell on its back.

  Fitch stood in disbelief. His arm still up.

  “Holy shit, did you… kill it?” Oz shouted. Dead, but shouting none the less.

  “I… think so,” Fitch said. He knew for sure when a message rolled on his view telling him the Trent was defeated and they got two items as loot.

  “Hell yeah man,” Oz said, “We downed the sucker. What title we got?”

  Certain feats in Orora granted the players a title signifying their achievement. This title could be displayed when other people checked or analyzed their status. Fitch took a quick glance, “Trent Chopper”.

  “Bleh, not as cool as I thought. Still Paragon is going to be so jealous.” They both laughed, “What about the loot?”

  “Trent branch and a…”

  “Young man, did you get the hand artifact?” Fitch heard a voice behind him. He turned around and a white bearded healer in white robes from the other party stood next to him. Thick lustrous white beard, that put Paragon’s to shame, covered half his face and dangled almost below his chest.

  “Hand artifact? Young man?” Oz said in the party chat, “who talks like this?”

  “Probably an RPG guild,” Fitch said then turned to the inquiring man, “No, just a Trent Branch and a…” Fitch examined the loot again, “Dark Pillar – West.”

  The healer narrowed his eyes then smiled, “well, congratulations on the glorious victory. You can keep your spoils of war,” he said and went on his way to raise his friends.

  “Oh Fuck,” Oz said, “no no no no, damn it you piece of shit.”

  As much as Fitch loved Oz, he could get a tad explicit at times with his words, something Fitch didn't like much about him. “What?” Fitch said.

  “Power failure man, my VRR just gave me notice that it’ll shut down in fifteen minutes.”

  “Again? That’s what? Three times this week?”

  “Yeah, I think they are working on the substation nearby or something. I was going to log anyways. I’ll see you tomorrow man.”

  “The items?” Fitch opened the loot box.

  “Does it matter? Just take them man.”

  Jobs: your job is your life in Orora. This is what defines your abilities and powers. But why settle with one? In Orora, you can jump between jobs anytime, anywhere (not literally anywhere, but you get the point.)

  Subjob: when your current job gives you less abilities than you desire, augment it with a subjob to borrow its abilities.

  With a plethora of jobs on hand and the ability to mix it with any subjob, the possibilities are endless.

  4 – Oriental addition

  It’s been an awful long time since Jack logged in as Hok. Only now he realized how much he missed this guy. He missed the weight of him, how he handles. He jumped few times in his place, getting a feel of him. His current character, Alkaizer, was built more or less to be a mage. But Hok was a front line fighter, heavier armor in general. Hok tightened his right glove.

  Although players could switch to any job anytime, everyone tended to stick with one main or focused job. Financing more than one career proved next to impossible.

  Hok chose the Rogue as his main job. A melee damage dealer with the ability to duel wield small weapons. The possibility for the Rogue to solo most of its way to the top was chief reason amongst why Jack chose it. This in turn alienated this job from parties, an added value for Jack. He didn’t like to be attached to other players. Aside from that, it possessed a great deal of agility. In terms of speed, bar none, the Rogue ranked as the fastest job in Orora. It was not the most powerful nor the best damage dealer job around, but the abilities it possessed were fast paced and frantic. Jack loved those.

  He leveled many other jobs high enough to use as his secondary or sub job. Sub jobs granted the player certain abilities and traits to be used while on their other main job. Depending on the task, and sometimes the mood, Hok used different sub jobs to complement his main. This time he was a Mimic, a job capable of copying or mimicking certain abilities from monsters during battle. For the life of him, Jack could not remember why he had this setup on. No big deal since he could change it anytime, and he’s not anticipating any fighting for now.

  He took a stroll in the busy metropolis of Yomaria, one of the three main cities located in the Northern region of the Sheab continent. The largest continent in the Orora world. As the lore goes, Yomaria was originally an Elvan city closed to outsiders for thousands of years. Built on a floating landmass on the northern shores separated from the main continent. Each part of the city resided on a small floating island connected by suspended bridges to the others. Water flowed and poured into the seabed below giving the city a permanent shimmer. From the main land it looked like a weeping island in the sky. The weeping city, some called it. They built it to be cut off from the outside world, until the dawn of the Recruits when the people built a sky bridge to facilitate easy access to the city.

  Recruits were individuals from all over Orora called upon by the heavens to aid the races of men against the threat of the Beastmen. They could be from any region as long as they pledge their life to protect the people and fight monsters. Basically it served as the starting lore when a player first Dreams Orora. From there, players were free to join the struggle against the Beastmen or just go about their daily life as they saw fit.

  Before the age of Recruits, or what was known as the Age of the Gods, few heroes defended the people from the threat of the Beastmen. Each city named its own hero or heroes. They were hailed as Gods amongst their followers. They carried their city banner, waged wars and kept the Beastmen contained within their territory.

  Hok stood in the middle of the main square of the city facing a statue of the Elf hero of Yomaria, Alamar. Long hair and pointy ears, typical Elvan looks. In his hand a huge claymore, not a typical Elf weapon of choice.

  An Elf in a dark red robe stood next to Hok gazing at the erected figure, “he will come back one day, and then we won’t need the likes of you,” the Elf spat at Hok’s feet and walked away.

  Hok smiled and continued on his way. The NPCs here hated Recruits, more so if those NPCs belonged to the Order of the High Realm. Judging by how this Elf dressed, he did. And to be in Yomaria no less, that’s even worse. Recruits were until fairly recently considered outsiders. And from what Hok could tell, they preferred Recruits to be outsiders once more.

  He reached a store with a sword and shield sign adoring its front door. Eric sat next to the entrance, sorting through his items. “Kept you waiting?” said Hok.

  Eric raised his head, startled then waved away, “It’s ok.” At least in the game he didn't look pale. The gloom lingered though.

  Jack visited Karin in the hospital about an hour ago. All the way there, he hoped, preyed that it was all a prank and Eric just toyed with him. But once he saw her on the bed his stomach tightened and a lump pushed at his throat. The VRR with LED lights on the ridges glowed and faded with a steady rhythm. Tubes and wires hooked to some beeping machines attached all over her body. He couldn't begin to imagine how Eric felt.

  On closer inspection, her bones showed behind her thin skin where it didn't the last time Jack saw her. Granted, Jack did not see her for a long while, but she always looked livelier. A doctor passed by and pulled Eric aside, they nodded few times an
d the doctor left. He assured him that she’s stable, but no signs of improvement.

  They sat next to her for some time before Jack excused himself. He always felt awkward and unnerved whenever he visited an admitted patient. Every time he brought himself to look at her a pain shot in his legs and his chest tightened.

  “You look, good,” Eric said.

  “What to do?” Hok shrugged. A hoody concealed the top part of Hok’s face and a dirty beard peppered his face. Most players won’t be able to recognize him. “So, what are we doing here?”

  “Before we go meet them, I need you to meet this other guy,” Eric stood, “come.” He started walking and Hok followed. “He was communicating with me ever since… you know.”

  Hok nodded, “yeah.”

  They passed Alamar’s statue and proceeded north towards a branching small road. Merchants set up shop on both sides of the street and few people were browsing around. To the far side of the road stood a big building covered in huge black drapes decorated with a golden hammer insignia, The Auction House. It’s an establishment used by players and NPCs alike to sell their wares and items. Hok noticed a big commotion at the entrance. Being the busiest area in any city and in a major metropolis like Yomaria, you’d expect such crowd around The Auction House. But this crowed was bigger than normal. And rowdier.

  “What is going on?” Hok said.

  “No idea and not really interested,” Eric said shaking his head. They both stood watching the drama unfolds from a distance for few moments. “Come on man,” Eric said and continued walking, “don’t want to miss the guy.”

  “So, still going to the tournament?” Hok said.

  “Yes, good place to find some people. I think you should pass by.”

  Hok made some disgusted noise, “we’ll see.” Not that he particularly hated the fighting in the tournament, but Jack always preferred doing things that didn't involve other people.

  Few more minutes and they reached the city gate. A steep bridge connected them to the main landmass of the Sheab continent. From here you could see a huge chunk of the land in what could arguably be the most beautiful viewpoint of this part of the land. Greenery and a consequent desert mass carpeted the area as far as the eye could see. Getting atop the gate might provide a better vantage point; Hok smiled and continued down the bridge.

  A vast green bed followed the marble bridge where they continued to head south. Few monsters and low-level players were going by their business. The surrounding area was for mid-twenties to early thirties level, so Eric and Hok had no issues here.

  “So, about this friend of yours?” Hok said.

  “Not a friend,” Eric said, “more like someone stuck in the same predicament as me.” Hok nodded remembering that Karin was not the only one who suffered from the Sleeping Beauty issue. “He’s Japanese. His sister was one of the early victims.”

  “Early victims? We are talking a year ago when this was first introduced.”

  “More or less.”

  Hok stopped, “What the hell? You are telling me that ODI is doing nothing for more than a year now?”

  “Aside from taking care of medical expenses, what can they do?”

  “The Orora Independent Agreement?”

  “Exactly.”

  After proving to the world that the Orora AI could pull its own weight, ODI, by an overwhelming request from the players, signed an agreement whereby they were not to interfere in the way Orora was run. The agreement stated that ODI couldn’t help or influence any outcome in the game. They were not to help players, or NPCs for that matter, by means of accessing the source code or the hardware. In fact their admin access was stripped and they were left with GM players to be used as helpdesk support.

  ODI maintained the physical servers and players’ accounts. That, plus producing the VRR, became their main source of business. The agreement reduced a lot of overhead for them and allowed them to focus on hardware and VRR perfection. They later ventured into different areas like the medical and vacation business. They released other applications based on Orora technologies but on a smaller scale. Why travel away in a long vacation when you could just jack into your VRR and go wherever you want instantaneously? Why attend a game or a concert when you could use your VRR and be in the first row watching and enjoying without the bad smells or sweat of others? You could opt for that as well if you so please. The potential was limitless.

  “Yeah, but ODI won’t interfere? Even in those circumstances? When someone’s life is at stake?” Hok said.

  “Their admin access was taken away. They simply couldn’t help even if they wanted. They only maintain the physical servers and like I said, they don’t know what’ll happen if those were to be shut down.”

  To their left three players ran towards a blob like monster and drew their weapons. A fight broke soon after.

  “So,” Hok continued walking, “this guy’s sister is in a coma for a year and nothing?”

  “Little more, fourteen months I believe.”

  “Damn, what’s wrong with those people? One year? And you always tell me to think better of other players.”

  “It’ll do you good. Besides, he did try once, obviously did not work. Now he can’t get enough people to join in. No one wants to lose their character.”

  Hok paused again, “The Reaper?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I see,” Hok said, “with the exclusion of female characters, no wonder it is near impossible to get volunteers for this battle.”

  “Exactly, but now with The Dark One on the loose, things might change,” Eric lowered his head and smiled, “it got me at least.”

  Hok placed a hand on Eric’s shoulder, “don’t worry man, we’ll get through this, we just need-”

  A Vagrant stomped its front hoofs in front of them. The horse like creature carried a man in red leather adorned with silver bits of metal and a matching horned helmet, a samurai armor. He jumped off and stood few feet away from the guys. The Vagrant broke into pieces and disappeared. “Eric-san,” the man bowed and said with a thick accent that gave away his Asian ancestry.

  Eric returned the bow, “Kensin.”

  Hok smiled under his hoody. Kensin, as in the Anime? I guess the official spelling was taken.

  The man turned towards Hok and bowed one more time. Hok returned it.

  From the way he dressed, Hok thought he was a Samurai. Up close, his armor looked scaly and rough. Dragon scale samurai set, Hok presumed, a long katana on his back with a dark red hilt. Definitely a Samurai. A damage dealer job versed in the katana abilities. After the Berserker, it was the second fastest job to accumulate SP. But unlike the Berserker, it possessed defensive abilities as well as aggressive.

  The man gazed at Hok for a moment then turned to Eric, “So, this is your friend. May I ask why is he anon?” Kensin said.

  Players in Orora could opt to keep their identity anonymous, anon for short. It blocked all other information such as your guild, level, job, everything. It’ll also block anyone from knowing whether or not you are logged in.

  “I’d like to keep it that way, for now.”

  “I’m sorry but that won’t do,” Kensin said to Hok then turned to Eric, “you know there are people helping this Dark One?”

  “I know,” Eric said, “I can vouch for him. I trust him with my life. He is my friend even before Orora.”

  “That does not make him ready for the fight,” Kensin said pointing at Hok, “Show me a high level equipment you have on.”

  Hok scanned his inventory on the double. The maximum piece of equipment he had didn't exceed level forty. What the hell was he thinking back then? Jack tried to recall his last time as Hok. “I don’t have any high level equipment on me.”

  “How convenient.” Kensin said before snapping his sword out of the hilt. A wooden pillar fell from the sky between Kensin and Hok. The word DUEL flashed atop it.

  “Kensin is inviting you for a duel, do you accept?” showed on Hok’s display.

&n
bsp; “What the hell?” Hok said.

  “You are going to have to defeat me or I won’t join you on this. You should be thankful I didn’t just attack,” Kensin said.

  In Orora you could attack anyone anytime you please as long as he’s not in your party. Some areas had battle restrictions but otherwise it’s a free for all. Players could, however, engage in a friendly battle in the form of a dual. This way even the defeated person won’t die and won’t suffer through death penalties. Once his HP reached zero the dual will end and both participants will get their full HP back.

  “Eric?” Hok said in the private chat channel.

  “Kensin, I told you he’s good,” Eric stood between the two of them.

  “Sorry Eric-san, I trust you because your wife is in the same bout as my sister,” Kensin said, “I have no reason to trust him,” he squeezed the hilt with both hands pointing at Hok.

  “I can use high level abilities. That should be good for you, right?” Hok said.

  “I’m sorry,” Kensin said, “I don’t know what the rogue abilities are, nor do I care to know.”

  Hok was max level compared to Kensin’s eighty-five, but in this setup he knew he stood no chance in hell in winning. “I have max level forty equipment and my sub is a mimic,” Hok said in the private chat, “there is no way I could defeat him.”

  “Please understand, Kensin, he can’t beat you with his current setup,” Eric said.

  Kensin sheathed his sword and the duel pillar disappeared, “Then this is where we part ways.”

  “Wait,” Hok said, “God damn it, I did not want to do this. I’ll take the anon off.” They both stood there for few seconds waiting for him, “There.”

  They kept staring for two beats, “I’m really sorry for doubting you sir,” Kensin said bowing down few seconds then raising, “but you can never be too careful and this is my sister’s life we are talking about.”

  “I understand.”

  “Seven. Hok Seven? What kind of title is that?” Kensin said.

  “It’s a, nothing,” both Hok and Eric smiled. “So, there are people actually helping this NPC?” Hok said.