The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream

Chapter 3: Level Up

(Saturday, January 2nd Game Day / January 1st Real Day)

The clock had just ticked over to 7:45 AM as I woke up without an alarm or assistance. I had an excellent internal clock that I somehow developed as a child to watch cartoons in the early mornings without a clock in my room. I often found myself nearly jumping out of bed from how immediately I would wake up, at exactly 6:59 on certain days. Giving me the necessary minute it took to run out of my room and into the living room to catch the cartoons that were shown at 7:00.

On other days I would wake up between 5:55 and 5:59 to catch the 6:00 AM cartoons. I couldn't explain it. My internal clock was never off by more than a few minutes, and it was never late. The best part was I eventually learned how to more or less set it mentally days before.

All I had to do was think about the time I wanted to wake up and then go to sleep, the rest was automatic. The only caveat was how exhausted I was, if I was too tired and got to bed at an extremely late time, I was bound to oversleep a little.

Dragging myself out of bed, slightly groggy from the short amount of sleep I had just received; I made my way to the bathroom to take a quick shower.

Once clean, I drank a glass of water and logged right back into the game.

I wasn't an addict yet… I had just slept late the day before so my sleep schedule more closely matched the game's 8-hour day cycle.

Yeah, not addicted at all; I had some restraint left after all.

Awaking to the sunrise in-game wasn't such a bad thing really.

In some ways the sun in-game was more interesting than the one in real life. You could look at this one slightly without burning your eyes out and it was a slightly different hue, a more reddish orange than the one I was familiar with.

Subtle differences to remind you that you weren't in the real world, I suppose.

Before continuing any further, I noticed a small exclamation point flashing in the corner of my vision. The apprehensive part of me feared that there might be some bad news coming my way but I clicked on it anyways. I didn't have the time to waste as daylight was already burning away.

Opening up the system message, I was suddenly relieved: [You have Attribute Points to Distribute].

It took a few seconds to click, but once I opened my Character Window I saw that I was already level two.

Thinking to myself, it finally occurred to me: "Ah, the wolf."

I had managed to kill a wolf before dying and must have missed the system message while preoccupied with the fight. I was almost level 1 from killing the [Northern White Fox], so once I killed the [Young Northern Tundra Wolf] it gave me enough experience to hit level 1 and level 2. Looking at the Experience Bar I was already 74% into level 2.

That wolf gave a lot of experience.

As happenstance, in Dragon's Wrath a player starts at level 0 with base attributes starting at +10 across the board. All of the basic attribute stats were reflected in the character window: Strength, Vitality, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, Intelligence, Wisdom, Willpower, and Luck. But there are exceptions, as there always are.

For there were users like me who had considerable attribute bonuses beyond the normal scope. Those of us who opted for the Ultra-Realism option could have up to +100 in every category, at level 0 no less. All we had to do was go through thorough physical and mental examinations to the tune of $750 USD, thankfully broken up into installments.

A costly endeavor, really.

Those bonuses were worth it though, as they provided one with an uncanny ability to hunt creatures and monsters of a much higher level than normal, and at a much faster rate as well. At this point in the game most players would be chasing around rabbits and squirrels but I had already moved on to foxes… no, I started on foxes and would soon move on to wolves.

Though it did seem a little broken when you thought about it but, I like to think of it as separating the casuals from the hardcore. Some might call this pay-to-win but in truth nothing was guaranteed and the possibility of ending up with zeros in multiple categories existed.

After spending all that money and time, to end up with worse stats or barely above par compared to the standard character, well… it's not a risk everyone is willing to take. But it was one I felt confident enough to take and was rewarded handsomely for it.

It was a worthy investment.

Not everything was really so rosy though.

Every positive had its negative here.

Those of us who opted into the Ultra-Realism program would also face a much harder game as well. Simply put, our character needed to eat more often, required more rest, had an increase in sensations-explicitly pain-which meant we would suffer more realistically, especially from adverse weather conditions as well, and to top it all off we received little to no system-assistance in combat.

That last one is probably the real catch for the majority of the population that lacked hand-eye coordination. Hell, it's even hard to deal with for me, even though I'm a decent hunter and versed in many weapons, it's not like I'm some expert MMA fighter or entirely familiar with real sword fights.

I would think most people aren't.

Being good with a gun doesn't really help when there are no guns.

Speaking honestly, by opting into the UR program we essentially skipped the Beginner, Normal, and Advanced level of difficulty for the game and went straight into the Extreme mode. And we were stuck in Extreme so long as we kept the character, the one that just cost you a few weeks of the average player's salary.

So, yeah, pay-to-win does not really apply here.

That and the increase in pain alone nearly had me back out of the program as well, but maybe I'm a bit of a masochist.

Looking at my Stat distribution, I was somewhat overpowered for my level:

Roth Sigurd

Level: 2 (129)

Health: 1060

Mana: 1030

Strength: 100

Intelligence: 98

Vitality: 100

Wisdom: 100

Endurance: 100

Willpower: 100

Agility: 0

Luck: 0

Dexterity: 50

Yeah, I was pretty confident with my scores.

Though there was one glaring weakness, and that was my Agility.

Truth of the matter is… I have a poor record of physical health.

When I went through the Ultra-Realism Program, I had just gotten back on my feet and my legs were essentially shot. I couldn't run or squat or do anything leg-related so I automatically failed every Agility examination that was taken.

I couldn't help that.

Regardless, I was still quite competent with the rest of my body as I had never truly given up on maintaining my fitness level. Where I surprised myself was in the mental examinations.

There were multiple categories that were unfamiliar to me, but I was happy to discover that the tests weren't simply a measure of who could compute the most difficult of mathematical problems. Through the extensive testing I was able to actually showcase my talents and knowledge as a bit of Renaissance man.

A jack of all trades, a Red Mage in gaming terms, or simply put a guy with a lot of varied interests. That was me in a nutshell. That guy who reads too much, watches too many documentaries, and has too many hobbies to be good for him.

I loved knowledge. I craved knowledge. I picked up five different languages even though I completely sucked at foreign languages simply because I wanted to be somewhat familiar with them. I doubt I will ever be fluent in Spanish, German, Japanese, Chinese, or Thai but I at least knew enough in passing conversations.

The game also seemed to be catered to my playstyle as there were no conventional classes. There wasn't a class, period. Players were free to pick up anything they wanted and everything was based around proficiency.

Gone were the days where a player would be forced to spend his entire gaming career as a Warrior or an Archer or a Priest. Now, if you had the time and talent you could be an Axe-wielding Archer that backed as a Healer.

Anything was possible.

Dropping the 10 Attribute Points that I had into my Agility Stat, I was now ready to continue on with my day. The sun was up and was calling my name to that little forest to the east. Fluffy bunnies were prostrating in the distance waiting for me to collect their furs.

I could just feel it.

Heading out of the village and walking barefoot in the cold snow, I couldn't help but reminisce about the past.