Reality Break Ch. 04

Note: This chapter had several hindrances including me being sick for a week, receiving a cut on my eye (hurt like a bitch for a day and it's fine the next), and of course Christmas in which I find great Christmas joy in shooting carolers with super soakers. Otherwise, in lieu of a long wait, this chapter is several thousand words longer than I wished, but whatevs. Also because it's a longer chapter than usual, there will be a mistake here and there, though please bear with me. In the end, please enjoy the chapter.

Reality Break Ch. 4 – Rambunctious Subterfuge

"And how is school treating you, Glasie?"

"Rather well this year, much better than the previous. I really like the classes and people I'm involved with."

"I should hope so, culinary school doesn't sound boring. It's probably a fun place to learn in."

"Well, like all schools, it has its up and downs. About a week ago, someone was improvising a sort of soufflé. It looked good and all, but the moment he cut into it, it literally exploded and molten chocolate got on my arms."

"Fffff, ouch, sounds painful."

Glasie nodded in agreement as she rubbed her arms. Right now, she was talking to her mother via a PT device with video chat. Though using a VT would provide better quality and resolution than the mobile PTs, the physical terminal just happened to be close by.

"It wasn't serious; I recovered easily thanks to the efficient burn treatment available at school. Also, my teacher, Atoine Augousto got selected into the finals for a prestigious competition back in France. I think it's called the Meilleur... Something. Well he got into the finals for the M.O.F of Pastries. Anyway, how about your work?

"The usual, though we made a massive sale to another corporation called ONE."

"I've never heard of them..."

"I doubt you would, they're a fairly small business, though it has the money to back them up. ONE apparently stands for Original and Neoteric Electronics. They bought a large quantity of MHs the other day, and of our new Demi-5 line of MHs. You know how MHs are looking more and more like humans everyday thanks to some innovations, and we put the latest of those on our most advanced line of MH yet, the Demi-Human 5 Robot."

"Oh yea, those came out recently, about a month or two ago. (Around the same time Rebellions came out)" Glasie scratched behind her ears as she pondered the coincidence.

"Why don't you get an MH? I'll give you a big discount since you're direct family. Our new Demi-5 is really convenient, it'll help you make meals, do chores, shopping, chauffer you around, and it can even take care of OTHER needs, hahaha."

"Mom... No."

"Eh, what?"

"Just... No."

"Haha, well, good luck in school and class as always!" Glasie's mother cheerfully laughed as she blew off her daughter's condescending remarks. Her mother made those sorts of jokes far too often for Glasie's taste.

Her mother's image on the physical terminal vanished and returned to the main menu for video chatting service.

"Ah, so tired from a straight shift at work from class. That's right; I made an appointment to meet everyone and another person to convince him to join our group. Though he wouldn't agree to meet us if he wasn't interesting in the first place, would he? Ah, whatever." Glasie stretched out her limbs as she moved herself to her bed.

On a shelf close by, there rest the Red Set VR system she had won from the contest. Connected to the red box was a slim and flimsy looking wire that was actually made with a sturdy and flexible material. "God, balancing this, school, and work is annoying. Though they've taken a slight dip, my grades are more or less the same and my body always seems to feel rested enough even after I use the VR system."

Glasie's two pet ferrets danced around in a pile of socks which she lazily stripped from her feet. "I haven't been paying enough attention to you guys... I've got a good hour left until I meet my group, so why not?"

Her two pet ferrets, Sock and Kitty perked their heads up and dashed around in seemingly random directions upon their owner's arrival as if in glee.

-

"Hey guys, did you hear?" Asked a fairly high-pitched, male, and authoritarian voice.

"'Bout what?" The one who replied spoke lazily as the person was utilizing a VT. The person, being a she, snorted a small amount of air out of her nose as she noticed she was using a virtual terminal device inside a virtual reality game. It was small bit of irony.

"There was another occurrence of level three Reality Break, and it came from a guy in our guild." The male stared dumbstruck as he mouthed off the article he was reading. "There's a picture of the guy and I definitely see that raggedy face of Donner there. Besides, he's just as short too."

"That's in really poor taste, Exi..." The girl scrunched her face in derision, "Well, he wasn't a good guy; he really annoying and mean actually."

"I heard the other day, while we were all recruiting, that he and Minerva got in a two v two duel with someone he pissed off."

"Did he and Minerva lose?"

"Yup, and in less than ten seconds too. I watched a recording of it that went viral on the internet and they were up against a Duelist and a Battlemage, with the Duelist being level 16 and the mage being around level 25. Though in fairness, the sheer speed in which their opponents began their attack, and the massive luck involved, overwhelmed them. They could barely register what was happening in the first place."

Suddenly, with a small blip, a guild wide announcement window appeared before them.

"Whoa, is Daison really doing this? Isn't that rather rash?"

"I have no clue what's going on, but... Wow."

Just like the two, many more that were in the same guild were fascinated and amazed at the reasoning behind what the message said. It called for the removal of Minerva and Donner from the guild.

-

"I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, I'm tired, I wanna eat some candy... Blossom? What's wrong? *gasp* Don't tell me you also want some candy? Can I borrow some money?"

Glass, at the moment was doing his best to tease his friend inside the virtual reality game, Rebellions. She happened to mention just how nice and amiable some kids could be, and Glass decided to prove her how wrong she was. It was not that Glass hated children or disliked them, far from it. However, since Glass was the oldest sibling of a nuclear family consisting of five, and having quite a few younger cousins, Glass was quite used to the frivolous and generally unbearable behaviors of younger children.

Blossom smiled wryly, "You have the strangest sense of humor."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"You should, because you never fail to cheer me up and make me laugh." Blossom went from a sarcastic smile to a sincere one. Being a member of the Undine race of Elves in the game, her face seemed to shimmer like a fresh pool of water. In fact, it seemed as if the area around here glowed like a star reflected in that same pool of water.

Blossom, upon realizing the implications of her words, blushed and averted her eyes from Glass' piercing gaze.

"I'm great, aren't I? Just say when you need Glass to cheer you or someone else up!"

Blossom blinked and regained her composure. It was very hard to do so when you were the companion of probably the most handsome player in the game. After all, if he looked this good in-game, and the player's model closely resembled what they looked like outside of Rebellions, Glass could quite possibly own competition level looks. And that wasn't all. Blossom still couldn't believe that Glass was this great personality wise. Though she was merely going along with the positives, Blossom could only fantasize about what could happen, as she would never be able to fulfill the dream many young girls had of getting married.

"It seems I must being my work already... Shall I tell a corny joke? It'll be a-maize-ing!" Glass, with all attempts in being serious, spouted out the worst joke he knew, fully intent on making Blossom laugh.

He succeeded.

Minutes later, Glass and Blossom arrived at their destination, an inn strangely named the Jester's Knee. They agreed to meet there in order to persuade another player to join their group. Both were fairly confident he would join, as why would he go to the trouble to meeting them a second time if he wasn't? Song Ha-Sup wasn't on at the moment, though a quick message via an in-game VT said he would be on shortly.

Scarlet was apparently offline as well. While that seemed normal for Blossom, since she thought the brilliant red haired player was simply another player, it was anything but for Glass. He alone knew Scarlet's true nature, as a virus artificial intelligence. So far in the world, no person, company, or group had been able to develop an AI, or an artificial intelligence. An AI referred to only what was thought possible in fiction, a sentient artificial intelligence. While Glass wasn't certain if Scarlet truly was an AI or not, his gut feeling knew it to be so.

(I sure hope you're okay, Scarlet...)

...

Inside the Jester's Knee tavern was quite a number of characters. Perhaps they were drawn by the virtual establishment's odd name.

On one table, a couple of players were playing a game of cards they called, "Cheat Without Getting Caught". Two other players were competing to see who would stop hitting their head against a wooden pillar. And then there was quite possibly the strangest group of all, consisting of a High Elf, Undine, Tiefling, and a newcomer Wolfkin. It wasn't the racial diversity of the players that could be considered strange. It was the sheer effect each of their unique personalities had on one another.

"Just like that, you'll join our group for the long term?" Glass asked.

"Sure." Replied the Wolfkin player. The large player, as the majority of all Wolfkin players were, had introduced himself with the moniker of Coolidge, after the 30th president of the USA (though the country no longer calls itself that).

"Um, we saw it yesterday, but can you assure us that you're a very competent tank? Also, how does the Guardian classification work with that role?" Blossom, apparently taking on the role of the brains of the group, decided to gather information about their new teammate.

"Well... Guardian's use heavy armor and pole weaponry. I'm very good at negating projectiles with said weapon. In a one on one fight... I'll win. Fighting in a team, I'll be fine with a good healer." Coolidge's voice seemed dry and less than lively.

"Don't worry my good lad, I, Song Ha-Sup, shall heal you with perfection! A true Blood Savant never allows his comrades to go without being at their peak fighting condition!" Song proudly thumped his chest and thrust his other arm towards the ceiling in an overly dramatic way. Accompanying Song's drama was Glass with a vigorously nodding head and cheerful eyes followed by Blossom that cowered from the oncoming gazes in the tavern by scooting closer to Glass.

Coolidge scrunched his eyebrows in a confused face before nodding.

"Now that we've got our meat shield, all we need is a good melee fighter with a DPS focus and one more whose position can vary... Right, Blossom?" Glass turned his head to Blossom, who at the moment was very close to his body.

Now noticing the distance between herself and Glass, Blossom blushed and separated herself before responding. "Y-yes, though I would like to try to do some sort of group dungeon or boss fight before we get a full group in order to see what we need exactly."

"Why, I bet it doesn't even MATTER what we go up against. With Glass-Nim's magnificent sword skills, Lady Blossom's arcane mastery over lightning, the indomitable Scarlet's fearsome speed, our new friend, the stoic Coolidge and his without a doubt there skills, and last but not least, I, SONG HA-SUP who is known as the greatest Blood Savant of the ages can surely take on any challenge!" Then after giving a thoughtful look, "However, I suppose being prudent is also a worthy course of action."

Coolidge curled he wolfish mouth and snout. "I have a suggestion."

"Really?"

"There's an out of the way cave where I first started playing... Near Sibling Lakes. It has powerful monsters and probably a boss or two close to our level range." In order to show everyone, Coolidge pulled out a VT with his personal map out for his fellow teammates to see. He zoomed in on an area where two large lakes appeared with slivers with a small sliver of land between the two. "These two lakes are modeled after the two deepest lakes in North America, the Great Slave Lake and Crater Lake. There are two underwater entrances to the cave I found... Most players won't look underwater for a cave system like this. At the time, I was too low leveled though to get very far."

"That sounds perfect; this is a good find, Coolidge. Though I think, just in case, we should get a sixth team member before we head there...? Oh, Scarlet is back online. Let's meet up with her and introduce you to her, Coolidge. We'll also tell her of our new plan: Find a sixth team member and head to the underwater dungeon at Sibling Lakes."

Coolidge blinked with a blank look on his face. As he was a Wolfkin player, it was hard for Glass to discern any emotion other than confusion from the player's face.

"Ah, I forgot something, something important." Glass clapped his hands together in absolute horror as he remembered what exactly he forgot.

"Huh? What did you forget?" Genuine worry came from Blossom.

"I forgot... I forgot that I really am hungry."

"Uh-" "As expected!" "..." Each of Glass' teammates reacted uniquely.

-

A girl's eyes were opened. They opened to the sight of a man passing by with a pan of freshly baked bread. Though the crisp smell that wafted over to her told her it was real, it was obviously not.

Anything that seemed real to her could not truly exist except in a simulated reality.

After all, she was, in the end, a computer program, albeit a very complex one.

Scarlet shook her head, dissolving the groggy feeling the game's virtual fatigue away from herself. Normally, a program like her wouldn't even register normal physical feelings, yet she registered just that. Scarlet couldn't comprehend just how this could happen in the first place since she first appeared in that forest.

Wandering the forest, she came upon him, Glass. She wasn't sure what to think after he offered to be her friend. She wasn't sure about anything at all. Scarlet then soon became friends with a girl named Blossom and eventually another man named Song Ha-Sup. And supposedly, everyone was supposed to meet a new member of their team today.

Wait a second...

(As far as I know, I don't have the capabilities to leave the game or even sleep. I can wait for prolonged periods of time, but I'm always conscious of my doing so.)

Scarlet surveyed her surroundings. She was in the same general area as yesterday, the bustling metropolis of Castle Port. Numerous players went about their business while there were also a few NPCs doing their part as normal townspeople.

Scarlet rubbed her stomach. (It seems that I require more sustenance.) Although when a player ate food via a virtual experience, it was obvious that their real body did not receive the food. Scarlet was slightly different regarding that matter. She and Glass discovered that in order for her, for lack of a better term, "survive" she needed to eat food and partake in liquids. Fatigue did not affect her nor did she require sleep which seemed odd since other basic needs for life affected her.

'Scarlet? Where were you?' And there was Glass talking to her via private chat.

Not wasting any time, Scarlet replied back. 'The map places me in Colto Street, near the Hollow Hospital.'

On the other side of the chat, Glass processed the two landmarks. Of course he hadn't memorized the name of every landmark in the game, which would take no less than a several thousand page encyclopedia. Still, he checked the map and soon found Scarlet's relative location.

'Geez, you're on the other side of Castle Port. How did you get there?'

'I don't... Know'

'Eh? How does that work out? I mean, you're an AI program, we know that... So how did you get from one area to another?'

'...'

Glass led the investigation between the two as he took Scarlet's silence as the go ahead first. 'It definitely wasn't another player, you can't initiate player versus player combat without both sides consenting. We learned that you can't go unconscious without you being able to register anything that happens to you. Really, the only explanation I see is that something in your programming, or the person/group that programmed you did something.'

Glass' purposely recited his words in an ominous tone that fit him entirely.

Scarlet stood entirely still more out of a decision that moving at all was pointless. 'I see, that is very much possible. If that is the case, I will most likely unable to refuse official commands given by my protocol and programming.'

'We have no choice but to worry about that then... I trust you, Scarlet; you would never do anything bad, especially not against your friends!'

Scarlet stared ahead emotionlessly, though a small smile made its presence known and it was filled with peculiar warmth. To anyone who just happened to look at her face just now saw nothing out of the ordinary, just a pretty girl smiling. To Glass, if he was able to see it, he would surely be surprised.

'Well, Scarlet, meet us around half way at... The Solemn Orarrium, I'll introduce you to our tank, Coolidge and we will also be looking for a sixth team member. Once we get our sixth, we'll be heading to a secret dungeon Coolidge knows of.'

'Yes, Glass.'

The private chat window disappeared and Scarlet immediately set forth for the Orarrium. However, Scarlet didn't make three steps before someone stood before her.

"Yea... This is definitely it. I found the virus right off that bat, lucky me." The voice belonged to a male High Elf player accompanied by a male Orc player. Scarlet searched her memory banks but saw neither of them.

"What do we do now? Aria is the head of this force, shall we report to her?" The Orc player asked his comrade.

"Heck no, why do that when we can get an obvious bonus and prestige from reporting directly to Riktor with the virus in tow?"

"That's obviously not a safe option-" The Orc was cut off by his comrade.

"HEY, dumbass, Aria is a complete frigid bitch. If we report back to her of our success, there's no way she won't take all the credit for herself."

The Orc sighed and shrugged.

"You two seem to be under the misunderstanding that I will be going with you."

"Obviously... Hey, the virus is talking to us, creepy."

"I understand the implications behind your sentence and I find it rude."

"Hey, get Riktor on the line; I'll subdue the virus... It's getting strange."

Scarlet watched the High Elf player pull out a wicked harpoon. Like most harpoons, it was roughly a meter long from haft to tip. Instead of one, the harpoon had two hooks which were situated at a ninety degree angle from one another and both were barbed. In his other hand, he had a round shield similar to the ones Vikings wielded.

"I don't think he'll mind if I cripple it."

"Be careful, Dussel, we have little information on the virus' capabilities." Warned the Orc player to his ally, Dussel.

"Pf, what can it do? It's just a computer program, it's not like it has any decent programming in it." Dussel stated arrogantly.

With that, Dussel thrust his harpoon without warning with alarming speed. He nearly caught Scarlet off guard, thankfully her unnatural reflexes saved her and she moved her body aside. As she did so, she pulled out her dual knives.