Opening Moves (The Gam3 Book 1) (31 page)

Do as you will. I am currently communicating with local guild AI.

Uh okay, let me know if anything interesting comes up.

Affirmative.

Grabbing a red block of foodstuff, Alan strode over to an empty space next to the wall. He decided that he was better off alone, and not because of that jackass Sidestep. Silently fuming, he glared in Sidestep and Aurora’s direction. Shortly thereafter, he received a message.

Aurora: Sorry, but please stop looking at me, people do take notice of that sort of thing. You don’t know me, you’ve never met me. Don’t talk to me or approach me. Just ignore me.

Out of the corner of his eye, Alan saw Aurora send a brief, piercing glare at him. Then, she strode away in another direction, into the crowd. Pausing, Alan tried to send a reply message, but the Game’s system told him that Aurora had blocked him. Well, at least she knew that he existed. She probably just didn’t want people knowing about her escapade to the Undercity for some reason. He told himself it wasn’t him.

Sighing, Alan took a bite out of the red cube he’d grabbed, to see if it gave a different buff. Disappointingly, it gave the same energized buff, but tasted of some other fruit Alan couldn’t quite name. A hooded figure slowly approached Alan wearing brown robes, his name and level remained hidden.

“May the bunny gods spare thee,” a deep, resonating male voice said from beneath the robes.

“Um, what?”

“Dost thou not recognize our great and mighty overlords?”

“Who?”

“The bunny-lords, whose fastest of hearts and fluffiest of tails lead us all through the great fields of space.”

“Um, I’m sorry I don’t really
—
” The figure pushed Alan up against the wall with a tremendous show of strength.

“Are you a heathen? Do your DARE ignore their teachings?”

“Sorry! Sorry, I don’t
—
”

The stranger pulled down his hood, revealing a young trickster’s face with sparking black eyes and a Cheshire grin. “Sorry, I was just messing with you, newbies are too easy. There aren’t any bunny-lords. At least, not yet.”

He then let Alan down gently, smiling. Alan felt a wave of anger began to rise up, infuriated and annoyed at all the jabs at him because of how little he knew, but he was able to push it down, and said politely, “Ah, um, no problem, and you are?”

“The Supreme Pontiff, the Blazing Star, the Herald of Them, the Grande Teacher of Minds, That Guy Over There, etcetera, etcetera. You can call me Him, if you want.”

Alan stared at this strange man blankly. He tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. There was no logical response.

“Anyways, looks like Elissandra is about to give her speech. Time for me to head out then.” He threw his hood back up, and then began walking out of the hall as the lights began to dim.

Who, what
—

I believe that was the guild’s Mad Priest, Void.

Wait, so he wasn’t a recruit?

Nope.

But, he looked just like
—

According to online records, he has the ability to shapeshift.

…

Alan looked up at the front of the hall, which held a simple black altar of some sort. Atop the dais stood a majestic figure, dressed in golden robes. Elissandra, the guild leader. Alan could see the resemblance to Aurora, as Elissandra shared the same blonde hair and blue eyes, but had an ageless face. She regally stood, arms outstretched, as energy from the orbs all along the walls and ceiling flew to form a ring of energy above her hands, plunging the room into darkness.

Smiling, she looked out across the hall full of potential recruits, standing in the shadows of her light. Alan felt her gaze briefly rest on him before speaking. The room had fell deathly quiet, as everyone’s attention rested on Elissandra.

“Greetings, recruits, and welcome to the Black Rose Guild Hall.”

A message popped up in front of Alan:

Alan was reminded of the class quest the Chief Administrator had given him, tasking him with meeting 10 major players, players that were capable of massively influencing the game, and finding their objectives in the Game, if he could. This meant that Elissandra was considered one such major player. He closed the message. Interesting.

“I hope that I see you within these halls for many years to come, but before introductions are made I would like to offer a few words of advice. Year after year applicants make their way here with simple goals of wealth and power. I understand, as we are mercenaries, after all.”

The swirling gold energy above her settled into a mountain of glimmering of gold coins, exuding a faint warmth that even Alan, standing over fifty feet away, could feel.

“But we are so much more. We are a brotherhood, a united order. A guild. A band of allies with common purpose. You should begin to ask yourself, what will you do for the Black Rose Guild? And perhaps, more importantly, what can the Black Rose Guild do for you? Dream bigger than simple thoughts of credits and levels. Think of change, change that you can make.”

The thousands of coins suddenly began shifting into golden balls of light, floating high up above everyone, close to the ceiling, illuminating more of the room. Alan watched as a single ball of light slowly settled above the head of every recruit.

“For, after all, we are one of the strongest guilds the Game has ever seen. We have conquered planets, assassinated emperors, sacrificed gods and amassed wealth far beyond imagination. But we have not come this far without developing enemies.”

To your right and left,
Eve cautioned Alan.

Resting his back along the wall, Alan watched as out of the shadows created by the balls of light players stepped out, members of the Black Rose Guild. They appeared seemingly out of nowhere, from the dim corners of the room, all wearing similar black suits of leather or metal armor, hiding their faces, names and levels. Two knights suddenly stepped out from the shadows on either side of Alan, hands rested on black metal broadswords at their sides. Glancing about, Alan could see most of the other recruits had only a single guild member next to them. He slowly moved his hands over to his laser pistols, wondering what was about to happen.

Elissandra continued in a somber tone, “And this is why I must now ask that you reveal your complete character information to the guild member next to you. Your character information, your faction allies, and your quests. Everything. I realize this is a great deal of information, but this will help us determine if you have a place in our guild, and, if so, where. We will have to fail and detain anybody allied with one of our enemies. If you have a quest to infiltrate this guild, then it goes without saying you, too, will be detained.”

A motion caught the corner of Alan’s eye, as a recruit suddenly tried to make a dash for the exit. The golden sphere of energy above him pulsed, turning black as it sent out a bolt of lightning that struck the recruit. They collapsed onto the floor, unconscious, as the guild member who had been watching the recruit calmly strode over, picked up the body and walked into the darkness.

All the players around Alan began to slowly open up menus, showing them to the players that appeared by their side. Alan began to do the same, but Eve messaged him.

I have transferred the requested information to the guild AI tasked with compiling the data.

Oh?

Yes, it is rather crude but each of the Black Rose guild members seem to be inputting the data into this database. I simply uploaded it straight there.

Alright.

The knight to Alan’s right coughed, holding up a tablet, motioning for Alan to open up his character screen.

Alan turned to look at him, and said quietly, “Check your database. It should all be there.”

The knight looked down, back up at Alan, then put the tablet away, shrugging.

Alan watched the sea of recruits. More tried to make their escape, for whatever reason. A few adamantly resisted showing their information, while others tried to grab a weapon at their side or make a break for it. They were quickly silenced by a single bolt of lightning from the golden ball that floated above their head, then dragged off to who knows where. One girl managed to deflect the bolt headed her way with an energy shield of some sort, but another two bolts quickly struck at her from either side, silencing her. The moment felt sort of surreal. By the time everyone had finished showing their information, perhaps 5% of the recruits were gone.

Elissandra, who had been calmly observing the proceedings, waved her hands, and the balls of energy all shot back to their respective places on the wall, illuminating the Great Hall once more. All around the room, the guild members began to take off their helmets and masks. The knight to Alan’s right was revealed to be a stone-faced cyborg, with the name and title, Specialist 3. To his left stood the cyborg’s mirror image, with the name Specialist 4.

Elissandra smiled briefly, then said, “Now that that business is out of the way, I would officially like to welcome everyone to the 307th guild assessment. The rules are rather simple. By the end of the tomorrow, earn 1000 guild points. Those with 1000 points or more are allowed to join the guild. Those with less will be asked to leave.

"Guild points are the main currency within the guild, and can be exchanged with a 1:10 ratio for credits, or for items or other services within the guild. Monthly wages, as well as bonuses will be awarded in guild points. Ranks within the guild all require a certain number of points in addition to other requirements. The way we do things here is a bit unique, with a more fluid chain-of-command, but more about that will be told to you after you pass the trial. These guild points may also be traded, sold or gambled freely, like any other currency, but for the purpose of the assessment the points must be earned. Now, I’m sure you are all wondering how you might earn said points.

"Well, at another point in time you were given a task by a member of the guild. Each of these tasks were actually carefully proctored events, and you will now be granted points according to how you did. The number of points you possess will appear on your guild mark, which must remain in clear sight at all times.”

A golden energy flowed out of Elissandra’s hands, spreading and striking every recruit, engulfing them in a sudden flash of light. Alan watched as a bright burst of energy snaked towards him, then struck him, engulfing him in a warm embrace. A message popped up.

Suddenly, a slew of additional messages popped up, hundreds in total. Alan was barely able to close them quickly enough as additional messages continually popped up. They were along the lines of the following:

Gaping at the huge number of bonuses, feeling a bit stronger, Alan grinned. Trying to join this guild was definitely the right choice. A new faction window appeared too, showing the Black Rose Guild’s reputation with hundreds of different groups.

Alan glanced at his guild mark as a new icon appeared beneath the rose, for guild points. He looked at how many points he was awarded, then looked again. He’d been given 5000 points, 4000 more than he needed to join the guild. Grinning, he looked back up at Elissandra. He was already in, it seemed.

Looking in Alan’s direction, Elissandra suddenly gave a devilish grin, then spoke aloud to the crowd, “But like all other forms of wealth, these guild points may quickly change hands. After this presentation everyone will proceed to the Simulation Dome, and the first trial will begin. A series of free for all duels, standard coliseum rules, with each recruit’s own guild points on the line.