Isaac was sitting in his new apartment, the only thing of his was the bag that he had yet to unpack. Well, the bag and the mattress that he stole from Roscoe. Floating in front of him was the number that Loony had given him. He was debating between calling it and just trying to find a normal job.
But in the end, his rationality won over and he realized a normal job would probably not be happening. He dialed the number and hid his auto-portrait which would show what he looked like. He did that because he was already in his sleepwear, which was a lack of sleepwear.
After ringing for a few seconds, an auto-portrait appeared with someone in a sharp suit and a serious expression. "This is Anderson, may I ask who is speaking?"
"This is Isaac Day, Loony gave me this number, she said you might have a business opportunity."
"Ahhh, Mr. Day. I was hoping you'd reach out." His serious expression washed away and was replaced by a PR smile. There was that fake corpo bullshit that Isaac was used to. "It's true we have an opportunity for you. I personally think you'd be perfect for it, but assuming Loony told you, you already know the severity of the situation. It's not something we should be discussing over the phone in case there are eyes and ears on us."
"I understand. Do you have a place we could meet up?"
"Yes, come to the Titan Industries building downtown at around 10 in the morning. I might be late, but I'll meet you down there. Just tell the receptionists your name and they'll take care of you."
"Alright, thank you for the opportunity."
"No. Thank you, Mr. Day." He gave the PR smile once more and hung up. Isaac groaned in disgust. He looked at the clock and noticed it was getting pretty late. He decided to call two more people, Roscoe and Loony.
They talked for a bit before they all decided to meet up in-game. But after discussing their locations, Isaac realized how far the other two were from him. It'd take them a few days to get to him even if they dropped everything to do so. After some investigation, they discovered that there had yet to be a way to fast travel to other places.
The game had only been out for a week so surely there was a lot of undiscovered things. Meaning that they'd all play separately until such a thing was discovered.
With that being said, Isaac finally headed back into the game world. Everything around him faded to black until a light finally emerged. According to the net, whenever it was night in real life was when it was day in the game. Isaac thought it was a pretty neat touch to get as many people as possible to play during the in-game day.
He found himself outside the sheriff's office which is where he last logged out. Since he hadn't really done anything, he would try robbing the bank. Surely, he'd get a lot of money from that right? Or maybe he should take the time to level up first. He began thinking silently to himself.
"Oh hey!" Isaac's thoughts were disrupted as they heard a voice to their right.
DefiantTomato walked over to Isaac. "Did you just come online?"
"Yeah."
"I heard you cleared out those outlaws yesterday who were robbing the bank. Nice job!" He patted Isaac on the back. "Say… if you managed to do that, you must be pretty good at video games, what level are you if you don't mind me asking?"
"Oh, I don't think I leveled up but let me check. All I did was stop those four people yesterday, so my level obviously won't be high. Hell, I doubt I've leveled up at all."
He brought up the game's menu and his stats were nearly all the same. Nearly.
[Username: Black Coyote]
[Character Name: Isaac Day]
[Class: Outlaw]
[Reputation: 12, Neutral]
[Level: 1] [+5 Skill Points Available!]
[Money: $40 ($0)]
[Health: 100/100] [Fatigue: 0/100]
[Mana Level: 0] [Mana: 0/0]
[Strength: 16]
[Endurance: 12]
[Agility: 9]
[Reflex: 17]
Notably, he now had a section for money with two separate sections for dollars, he gained twelve reputation which was good for others, bad for outlaws, as well as a level up. Since the forty dollars were still on him, he assumed that's what the cash on the left meant. Then he assumed that the cash on the right would be the cash he's put in banks.
As for the level up, he was pleasantly surprised. He didn't think to check his level after the fight, after all it was just four enemies. But now thinking about it, he was just a level 0, it wouldn't have taken much to level up.
"Level 1." Isaac answered.
"Really, that's it? I guess you did just start yesterday. Did you assign your points?"
"Not yet. I have a question though."
"Yes?"
"How do you use magic?"
"Ah, yeah you wouldn't know that. You need to buy a mana catalyst potion; it'll increase your mana level. When that increases, you get access to mana, which can be used to for magic."
"So, I can just use magic however?"
"Kind of, you'll need to learn a spell first, then you can use magic as long as you have mana. Spell books drop from monsters, or you can buy them from certain stores. There are also rumors floating around about alternative types of magic, but I have yet to see anything like that."
"Thanks." Isaac said with a bright smile. This DefiantTomato guy was pretty reliable, he couldn't wait to rob him. That seems harsh, but eh, it was his job as an outlaw. At least, that's what Isaac was thinking.
"The stats are based on your real-world body. I wish I had known that before I started playing." DefiantTomato laughed before continuing. "The only one that isn't immediately obvious is reflex. If you want to, you can use the deadeye mechanic. The game forces your brain into overdrive and so the world seems to slow down for you. Doing so however massively increases your fatigue."
"What's the point of fatigue?" Isaac took deadeye into consideration for later, but fatigue was intriguing as well.
"It's simple, the higher the number, the more tired you get. The average person's body will shut down if it gets to around 70. Your character will die if it reaches 100."
"I see." Isaac looked at his stats and thought about which to increase. After a bit of contemplation, he decided that his agility was too low, so he put four points into it, increasing it to thirteen. Then he put his final point into endurance which was also low.
His new stats were as follows:
[Strength: 16]
[Endurance: 13]
[Agility: 13]
[Reflex: 17]
With a satisfactory nod, he took a step forward without thinking about it much. When he did so however, he felt strangely lighter. It was just ever so slightly, but he definitely was lighter, he was certain.
He froze and looked down at his feet then he scanned his body up until his arms. He looked at DefiantTomato with a dazed expression.
"Ha! Look at that, so it wasn't just me who felt it. It's strange, isn't it? It's like a momentary high. One second it's there, the next, it's gone. A fleeting dream if you will."
Isaac smiled after hearing DefiantTomato's nonsense. Yet it was nonsense he found himself agreeing with.
"You out here Tomato? I told you I need help liftin' this shit!" A lawman exited the building, yelling furiously at DefiantTomato. DefiantTomato's face grew slightly embarrassed as he nodded towards Isaac and left.
Isaac scratched his head in confusion. Well, he needed to leave anyway and now he had two goals besides robbing the bank. He needed magic because who doesn't want to be a wizard? Then he needed to level up. It had been a few years since he had last played a game, but the importance of power levelling past everyone was not lost on him.
After all, that's what he used to do when playing games. Getting enjoyment from simply playing the game? Nonsense. Getting enjoyment from being on top of the leaderboard was where it was at.
So, he had two options. Go looking for other quests, because yeah, why not? Or head directly to the bank.
The bank had a response of one bounty hunter, Jerome, and a few lawmen, around six or seven. Considering that around half the lawmen were players, as well as Jerome, Isaac simply couldn't count on himself not getting pulverized immediately upon contact. They had a full week of playtime on him.
So, the answer was simple. Only a fool wouldn't come to the conclusion.
It was time to power level.
But first Isaac had to find a quest to do. After gathering his thoughts, he started making his way through the town. He decided to head to the bank while asking around for jobs because he wanted to deposit his money. That was when he heard two loud voices that were trying to be hushed hurriedly speak in a heavy country accent.
"I heard Maryann was talking to her husband about a someone called Milton. I hid behind the wall and listened because they were definitely up to something. They're going to kill him! I heard it plain as day!"
"Well go to the sheriff then!"
"I can't! You know as well as I that they have those ruffians hanging around them! I'm pretty sure on of them saw me! I don't want to die Isabella."
"So, you're just gon' let another man die for you?"
"If that's the case then yes. Better him than me, I don't even know him!"
If that wasn't a quest Isaac wasn't sure what was. He looked at his quest log and sure enough, there was another quest.
[Battle at the Ball]
[Find more information about the man named Milton.]
[WARNING! This mission is determined to be five levels higher in difficulty than the player currently is. It is recommended that the player levels up before attempting.]
Isaac clenched his fists in frustration. Could he just get one quest for his level?!
"Excuse me, partner…" Isaac heard a man to his left. "You seem to be a reliable sort after what you did at the bank. I've got an urgent job I need help with! That is if you don't mind? I-if you don't we've got to go right now…" The man seemed to be a hunter and they were obviously worried about something.
[Accept Quest?]
[Yes / No]
Isaac chose yes, because screw it. He was only level one, if it was a death sentence, he'd go out with a bang! Or at least he'd try. Hopefully he didn't die however because he still had the forty dollars on him.
"Thank you so much! Follow me! My Elizabeth is stuck in our house just out of town and a great deal of zombies are trying to get in! I want to help her, but a regular bow is practically useless against them!"
While the two were running through the town to get to his house, Isaac had a simple thought. For a man who chose outlaw, he certainly hadn't done any crimes yet. Was he just subconsciously stalling because everything here felt so real? He didn't know.
They reached his house not a moment later. It was wedged behind some trees and down a small dirt path. A pit of dread instantly took shape in Isaac's stomach.
Until now, he had never considered how he'd fair in a zombie apocalypse. That was because he had much worse things to worry about. But now that zombies actually were his highest priority, it really raised the question how someone would kill a horde of them.
He counted them as they slowly clawed at the windows and wood walls of the building. Their blood slowly dripped down their bodies and onto the ground. 15. There were fifteen zombies trying to get into the building.
He only had twelve total for his revolver and six were loaded. Shooting a single round would probably make them all scramble towards him. But he was yet to know whether or not the zombies were the fast type or the slow walking ones.
When he saw one in town it was killed instantly so he'd have to figure it out himself. It wasn't exactly an entirely motivating position to be in, he had to admit. He quickly took stock of what he had; besides his revolver and ammo, he had a knife and lasso.
"Hey, give me your bow just in case." He told to the quest giver. They quickly nodded and took it off of their back, handing it over. Then they handed over the quiver as well.
Isaac quickly formed a plan in his head. Since there were fifteen zombies, he could try and pick off the zombies towards the back in a stealthy manner. He could shoot them with an arrow or toss the lasso, drag them over, and kill them with the knife.
So, he prayed to any god out there that would listen and sprang into action.