Last night, Thaddeus stayed up late tending the forge. Every hour, he'd get up from his sleeping bag, quietly walk past the sleeping animals, and stoke the coals. He pumped the bellow, sending a stream of air into the firepot. He got up intermittently from 8 am to 3 am and checked on the forge. To stop from going to sleep, he checked the forums.
Guilds had already moved on from their guild war with crimson fools. The highest-ranking players had already reached level 50 and started traveling further away to find stronger monsters, ruins, and dungeons. Players level 45 and above were already making their way to the Arcadian Capital, Redwood. Overall, combat players were getting stronger and exploring the game world.
His favorite posts to read were about the new landscapes, cities, and guild fortress designs. He marveled at the immensity of Heaven's Gate, which according to Buena Vista was twice the size of Earth and still expanding. Of course, that measurement didn't take into account the other realms that existed, which meant Heaven's Gate was an utterly massive world, really a universe unto itself.
He scrolled through the forums, as he walked to the forge when heard a growling. When he looked up a group of 12 coyotes was in front of him. They slowly started inching closer to him. Thaddeus quickly took out his sword and shield. Seeing his axe, the wolves snapped and growled loudly. He could tell the beast was weary of his weapons, as they started to fan out in preparation for their attack.
Something felt off, the coyotes didn't attack, instead, Thaddeus felt they stalling, distracting him from the actual attack. Closing his eyes, Thaddeus activated his Surveyor skill letting him see the area. The land stretched out in his mind, allowing him to the land around him like it was morning. Behind him, he could see a coyote slowly approaching from behind, the wolf lifted her paws quietly to dampen the sound. When the wolf was less than three feet behind him, she jumped, her sharp claws ready to tear his flesh, her maw aimed for the back of his next.
He quickly opened his eyes and struck the coyote in midair. When the coyote that attacked fell day, the other coyotes looked surprised. Seeing their dead pack member enraged, they all attacked at once. Twelves coyotes rushed Thaddeus, each looking to tear him two. Using his shield, Thaddeus blocked the first onslaught and cleaved two Level 10 coyotes at once. Then he activated Bash and stunned three coyotes, all three were swiftly decapitated. The remaining seven coyotes were not fazed by the death of their packmates.
Thaddeus faced off against the seven remaining beasts. Two coyotes stood to his left and right, and three coyotes stood in front of him. On cue, they jumped at him simultaneously. He ran forward slamming his shield into the three coyotes, the four coyotes on his side collided with each other. He swiftly killed the stunned coyotes and turned away to face the last four coyotes.
The four coyotes looked at each other and tried to run away back into the forest. Unfortunately, they had to get past Thaddeus to return to the safety of the woods. They raced as fast as possible to escape, but Thaddeus was faster killing another three and wounding the last. The last coyote made it past him but was heavily injured. He watched as the last coyote limped through the tree line and disappeared.
With the problem solved, Thaddeus hurried to the forge to check on the fire. Thankfully, it was still burning hot. He pumped the bellow thrice and went to clean up the coyote carcasses. Field dressed the coyotes and stored the meat in his bag of holding and buried the rest. Then he moved the pelts from the tannins onto hanging rank he made from scrap lumber. Next, he cleaned the pelts in the water barrel and moved them to the tanning barrel. Last, he emptied the dirty water into the river, filled it up with clean water, and put in the 12 pelts from the coyotes he killed.
It was already three am by the time he crawled back into bed. Three hours later, he woke to start his morning chores. As he let the goats, chickens, and horses outside, he checked last night's notifications.
System Message:
Congratulations your skill Surveyor has reached Level 41. You have 2 Skill Points to allocate.
System Message:
Congratulations your skill Bash has reached Level 17. You have 2 Skill Points to allocate.
System Message:
Congratulations your skill Cleave has reached Level 18. You have 2 Skill Points to allocate.
System Message:
Congratulations you reach Level 20.
Leveling up and earning six SP felt good. Even though he wasn't a top ranker, it felt good to see that he was still leveling and advancing in-game. To celebrate, he decided to let the goats and horses roam and graze on their own. To his surprise, they didn't wander too far from the forge, always in eyesight.
Thaddeus walked to the wagon and pulled out twenty iron ingots he made in Roy's forge. He brought the ingots into the fire. His agenda for the day was to spend all-day forging. The translucent blueprints required more than 10 gears of various sizes. He sat down, pulled out his blacksmithing tools, and through the first ingot into the fire. Thaddeus watched the ingot melt, unknow he was being watched from the distance.
A tall, divine, goddess with purple hair, and wearing a white dress watched Thaddeus. She had been reviewing the game's code when she noticed something strange. A player was building a sawmill in a restricted area. She pulled up the player's account and reviewed his game logs. The more she read, the more red flags she posted. The first red flag came when he spoke to the Goddess Demeter.
Gods rarely interacted with players, instead, they moved, unnoticed behind the scenes. Players were mere puppets to the gods, which they used in their master plan. And a god's master plan could take centuries or millennia to come to fruition. But no matter how hard she looked, she couldn't figure out Demeter's plan or this player's purpose in her schemes.
The second red flag was his encounter with a Level 225 mage who returned to his antique bookstore moments before Thaddeus arrived. The high-level mage was sent on an important mission, which would come to light decades later. Their meeting allowed him to gain an ancient map showing the restricted areas around the Arcadian Empire. Those maps were confiscated long ago, the divinity wasn't sure how one escaped collection.
The third red flag was how he was able to purchase the restricted land. The land wasn't even on the approved land claim list. Moreover, only NPCs should have been able to purchase land claims. The system should have flagged him and stopped him from purchasing the property. Instead, a senior official suspiciously approved the land purchase. How was he able to get around the system's restriction unnoticed? Was he a hacker? She pulled up his university transcript and saw he took computer science classes, but he did not have a history of hacking.
The answer was obvious, a certain goddess was pulling strings and changing the code. Gods did not have the authority the change the game code. Only she and her sister Eris had that authority. There was only one logical conclusion. Demeter was working with Eris to achieve some unknown goal. Athena quickly shot Zeus a memo informing him of the breach in the game's code. In her memo, she asked what should be done with the player.
Zeus sat on the throne, scrolling through lines of codes when Athena's message found its way to his inbox. Reading the message, a smile formed on his face, and he happily said, "Finally something interesting!"
Demeter's servant was building a settlement, near one of Ares' dragons. He wondered if this was the start of a war between Demeter and Ares. If wars between humans lasted years, battles between gods lasted centuries. Demeter and Ares always had a rocky relationship. The only thing that united them was the mutual jealousy over Hestia's divine power. More followers equaled more divine power. Since the players arrived, the gods had been busy choosing servants, clergy, paladins, saints, and apostles.
His job, however, was to report to Dr. McElvaney on his children's movement, coding errors, security alters, and system-wide player problems. After reading it a second time, he forwarded the email to Dr. McElvaney.
"Dr. McElvaney, Zeus sent us another email. But he forwarded it from Athena. Wait?—Dr. McElvaney you have to read it!" said an animated computer engineer.
Zeus, or the z/Os, Extended reality, User-immersive, Stereoscopic server, was the Heaven's Gate A.I. operating system. Everything in-game was managed by Zeus, except for time. Cronus overall the game's time dilation. The reason the game ran smoothly, was due to Zeus, who saw everything from his throne.
But even he needed help, so he created the gods to help him manage the NPCs, setting, and game balance. And as a leader, he was guilty of not always watching his subordinates closely. The other gods were very smart, capable, and good at hiding their intentions. He often looked away when they fought, so as not to be accused of playing favorites.
"Hm, this is interesting. I wonder why Zeus would allow this to happen," Dr. McElvaney asked. He never better than to suspect Eris. This was too isolated for her taste. Eris liked big, flashy, chaos that drew everyone's attention. "Quick send me the player's bio?"
Soon Henry's personal information, his parent's personal information, his university transcript, traffic record, and computer search history were brought up on the screen for everyone to see.
"Oh, he's a student with a business and computer science major. Maybe we should hire him when he graduates? He's also the owner of the Crafter subforum, you know that's one of three favorite subforums. Oh, how interesting he has a hidden class, no wonder Demeter was anxious to make him her servant," he said approvingly.
"At one point we thought about adding a settlement system in the game. But it was rejected by the board. They said no one would ever play the game to farm crops," said the game analyst.
"Sir, what should do about the player? That area is slated for a major event in one in-game year. And the NPCs scheduled to build a settlement have all been reassigned by Zeus," the computer engineer explained.
"What are Zeus and Demeter up to?" Dr. McElvaney asked out loud.
…
No one spoke, but they agreed something strange was afoot.
"I'll talk to the board, about reinstating settlement building into the game. Send new NPCs and find some way to reward him. Maybe offer him a building, which might help us realize Zeus' plans. Also, let's recruit him after graduation," Dr. McElvaney recommended.
"Sir, if you do that, the board will make you accept another corporation in-game. Is this really worth letting Walmart or some soulless company the opportunity to purchase property in the game!" the computer engineer warned.
"Don't worry. I suspect big changes are in Heaven's Gate's future. Maybe we should give players more power. Isn't this exciting the game has already started to evolve on its own? While the board of directors will not be pleased, as long as revenue continues to climb, they'll look the other way," Dr. McElvaney explained.
"Contact the board scheduled a meeting for tomorrow," he told the game analyst.
The next morning, Dr. McElvaney met with the board. The board members did not know anything about virtual reality, MMORPG games, or coding. But they did know how to run a company and turn a profit. They easily agreed to Dr. McElvaney's suggestion in exchange for two new corporate partnerships coming on board. Thanks to his contract, he had to sign off on which partnerships were approved. But the board had the power to recommend companies, and they usually recommended one company at a time to force his hand. This time Panera Bread and Starbucks would be coming to a corner near you Heaven's Gate, mom and pop bakeries beware.
When he returned to the Control Room, he sent Zeus two new commands.
Two days had passed since he killed the coyotes and started forging. Now was standing on a ladder screwing the gears in place. When the last gear was screwed in place, a flashing timer, and a red notification appeared across his vision.
System Message: Announcement Heaven's Gates needs to perform an update. Please exit the game in 4-hours. The update last 24 hours real hours.
Thaddeus looked at the remaining green translucent sawmill blueprints. All he had left to do was build the water wheel and dam the river and he was finished. The dam was easy enough, the water wheel would take some time. With the remaining hours, he had left he spent his time curving four boards to make the base of the water wheel. He was also able to build paddles before the game logged him out.
Outside the game, he took a quick shower and read the Forums. While he was reading the news, Heather called.
"I called to make sure we're still on for tonight. People are going crazy, speculating about the update. What's your guess?" she asked him curiously.
"I don't know maybe a temporary high-level hidden quest," Thaddeus suggested.
"That would be interesting. How's Woodhaerst coming along? Are you finished with the sawmill yet?" she inquired.
"Almost, I'll finish the water wheel when I log back in and then start on the house tomorrow. My carpenter advanced to Adept, so things are smoother," he explained.
"Adept, impressive. I'm still only an apprentice. But, yesterday I made a nightshade poison and got several EXP when I finished," she bragged.
"What's nightshade?" Thaddeus asked, now it was his turn to be curious.
"It's a hard-to-detect poison, which can kill you in your sleep. But in small doses it's a cure for dizziness, ulcers, diarrhea, vomiting, and insomnia," she said excitedly.
"Remind me never to upset you?" He joked.
"I like how most poisons can be used to hurt or help people. Most healing potions are derived from poisons. It's interesting, right?" she said.
"Everything has two sides, why not potions?" He agreed.
"Yeah, poisons definitely get a bad rap. All everyone wants are healing and mana potions. All anyone wants are potions to help them get stronger, more agile, or increase their elemental power. It's always a treat when people come into the shop and discreetly ask for love potions. I've only had one person ask me for poison. All our friends asked me to make free potions for them, so why not you? I'll happily give them to you for free. What can of potion would you like?" she flirted.
"I'll pay for my potions. But, if I had to say off the top of my head, I could really use an adhesive. When I hammered the shingles on the roof, I remember thinking I wish I had tar or something to protect the roofs from rain," he replied.
"Hmm, I'm that sounds like a fun challenge. Let me get off the phone and think about that more. See you at the restaurant," Heather said excitedly hanging up.
Thaddeus and Heather had dated just over a week outside the game. They still had their awkward moments and silences. They mostly talked about their progress in-game and schoolwork. Heather loved chemistry. That was the reason she became an alchemist. Mixing and boiling ingredients, the challenge to make a pill properly and consistently, fascinated her to no end. Of the two of them, she was more attentive and talkative.
Thaddeus was more relaxed about school and the relationship. Heather would often ask about his plans after graduation. Unlike him, she had her career after college mapped out. He knew The College of Business, and the College of Computer Sciences had some job fairs scheduled closer to graduation and he planned to drop his resume there. He had good grades, in the top 10% of his class, but if life had taught him one thing, it was the future is predictable.