Fantasy Online_Hyperborea Read online

  Fantasy Online

  Hyperborea

  (Book One)

  By Harmon Cooper

  Edited by George C. Hopkins

  Copyright © 2017 by Harmon Cooper

  Copyright © 2017 Boycott Books

  Cover by Tom Shutt

  Edited by George C. Hopkins ([email protected])

  www.harmoncooper.com

  [email protected]

  Twitter: @_HarmonCooper

  To add me on Facebook, click here.

  All rights reserved. All rights preserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Table of Contents

  Table of Contents

  Map of Hyperborea

  Author’s Note

  Prologue: Troll battles

  Chapter 1: Tamana’s great leap of faith

  Chapter 2: Home is where the killer droid is

  Chapter 3: Digital hallucinations

  Chapter 4: Goblin security and why you’re better off without it

  Chapter 5: Paradise of the Insane

  Chapter 6: Brotherly love

  Chapter 7: Is this the real life, or is itファンタシー?

  Chapter 8: Natty Dread

  Chapter 9: Dream armor or bust

  Chapter 10: The Thulean

  Chapter 11: Back to life, back to reality

  Chapter 12: Hanging coffins

  Chapter 13: Breakfast in the sky

  Chapter 14: Cherry blossom ninjas

  Chapter 15: Game changer

  Chapter 16: The gun has no trigger

  Chapter 17: Boaster Toaster

  Chapter 18: A tendril of white magic

  Chapter 19: Digital memories

  Chapter 20: A puppetless puppetmaster

  Chapter 21: Rilakkuma pancakes on the fly

  Chapter 22: Dirty Dave’s Armor and Weapons Depot

  Chapter 23: Orc zombie battle royal

  Chapter 24: An egg for another day

  Chapter 25: Drop in, drop out

  Chapter 26: Kaizen

  Chapter 27: Shogyo Mujo

  Chapter 28: Aramis Solid Waste Management and Abatement Service

  Chapter 29: Life in the fast lane

  Chapter 30: The golden door

  Epilogue: Brother’s keeper

  Ryuk Matsuzaki’s character sheet

  LAUNCH MONTH SPECIAL OFFER

  Tritania Basics

  Acknowledgements & More

  Fantasy Online Merch!

  The Feedback Loop preview

  LitRPG book list

  The Fantasy Online series is dedicated to the memory of Tom Shutt.

  Map of Hyperborea

  Click to enlarge

  “Continents, three,

  Float over the Endless Sea,

  Hyperborea, Polynya, and Ultima Thule.”

  --A famous Tritanian poem

  “Takha bae bitakh novlaa rakh Aya Bortaetae,

  Huborakha, Polonkhya, Hutamae Dulekh.”

  --Written in Romanized Thulean

  Author’s Note

  The Proxima Galaxy consists of uncounted digital dreamworlds, all developed by the Proxima Company, a very specialized entertainment corporation. To access a dreamworld, one ‘dives’ with the aid of a neuronal visualization (NV) visor, which induces a lucid dream-like state for the ultimate first person VR experience.

  Tritania is the VRMMORPG world in which the action of this novel takes place; the real world setting is 2075 Tokyo, Japan.

  Within Tritania, there are three floating continents. The starter continent is Hyperborea, which is the setting for this book. To travel to the next floating continent, Polynya, a player must reach level 15. To travel to the third continent, Ultima Thule, a player must reach level 35. The game mechanics of Tritania are based on the JRPGs that shaped my childhood.

  For more information about Tritania, I’ve included a Tritania Basics section at the back of this book, including an explanation on the in-game language spoken in Tritania, some of the common terms, time, and the relation of this book my other series, most notably, The Feedback Loop. Tritania Basics is accessible through the table of contents.

  -Harmon Cooper

  Prologue: Troll battles

  At half the length of her body, Tamana’s buster sword is meant to be held with both hands, to be used as both a shield and a weapon, but she’s never been one to do things in a conventional way. She takes to the air, and following a perfect arc, she slashes through the enemy troll’s poorly crafted leather chest plate.

  -15 HP!

  She botches the landing, still not used to her buster sword’s weight, and cartwheels to the right. A fiery explosion suddenly flings the mountain troll backwards.

  -5 HP!

  Glancing over her shoulder, Tamana watches Ryuk load another black marble into his magic slingshot. He pulls back and lets go. A blast at the troll’s hairy feet produces a cloud of dust and a scattering of debris.

  “Both hands on the sword!” Ryuk shouts to her for the third time that afternoon. He pops off another black marble at the feet of the troll, causing more dust to obscure the air. Range isn’t an issue with his magic slingshot; it propels the marbles with magic, not elastic, and it self-adjusts for range.

  This is a good thing, as Ryuk is utterly terrible with his new avatar.

  Tamana is by his side moments later, the strands of her long white hair beating in the wind. “My attack looked cool though, right?” she asks.

  He has to smile at this.

  “You chose a much stronger avatar than I did,” he reminds her.

  She winks at him. “You always were up for a challenge.”

  They lock eyes for a moment longer than necessary.

  A smaller troll, likely the bigger troll’s wench, flanks the two. Grimy dreadlocks cover her face and yellow man-bone jewelry clinks around her neck. She pauses, grunts, and charges.

  Ryuk loses his footing and muffs his next shot. The marble explodes and a nearby bush bursts into flame.

  Still holding her weapon incorrectly, Tamana side swipes her ironing board of a sword at the she-troll and manages to cut the wench’s hairy arm clean off at the elbow. The she-troll shrieks as her black blood jets into the air.

  -39 HP! Critical hit!

  The dust clears. “Doka duchaka!” Maddened with rage, the savage male troll charges at the two with his fists held high over his head.

  “I’ve got this!” Ryuk procures a clear marble from the pocket on his belt, pulls back, and looses it.

  What the … ?

  The male troll freezes in place, his chiseled arms still held over his head. Ryuk glances back to Tamana to find that she’s also fixed in place, her tremendous sword held awkwardly in the ‘ready enough’ position at her side. Turning to the dying female troll, he gasps once he sees that the blood spraying from her arm is pixelated, it too frozen in midair. From the grass that was moments ago blowing in the wind, to a bead of sweat on the side of Tamana’s face – everything around him is completely stationary.

  But I can still move, he thinks as he squeezes the handle of his slingshot.

  Not knowing how long he has until time returns to its normal pace, Ryuk moves to the side of the alpha troll, takes a few steps back just to give himself some distance, reaches for a black marble and …

  Time blazes ahead and the troll turns to him.

  Taken off guard, Ryuk is seconds from being clobbered when the tip of Tamana’s buster sword pierces the creature’s chest, splashing oily black ichor onto Ryuk’s face.

  Instakill!

  The troll slumps forward and Tamana kicks his corpse off her buster
sword. She keeps the troll’s blood on the blade as she turns to his smaller counterpart. One clean swipe and she finishes off the she-troll too.

  -17 HP!

  They are each awarded experience points and the guild coffers increase by about a hundred rupees. With a flick of his wrist, Ryuk checks their stats and swipes them away.

  Ryuk Matsuzaki Level 2 Ballistics Mage

  HP: 87/115

  ATK: 40

  DEF: 5

  MATK: 51

  MDF: 18

  LUCK: 3

  Tamana Nakamura Level 2 White Warrior

  HP: 85/138

  MANA: 68/79

  ATK: 52

  DEF: 19

  MATK: 12

  MDF: 38

  LUCK: 3

  “That was crazy ... ” Tamana wipes the digital sweat from her forehead. She stabs her bloodied sword into the soil, something she’s grown fond of doing since taking her new avatar. Glittery magic spirals around her hands as she lifts her arms into the air. A halo takes shape over her crown and a cloud forms over the two; iridescent snowflakes gently settle onto their heads and shoulders.

  +45 HP!

  “What did you do back there?” She asks, after they’ve healed up. “How did you freeze time? That’s, like, a level 30 spell or something!”

  Ryuk shows her one of his clear marbles. “It’s these clear marbles. Like I told you, they’re wild cards.”

  “You should have used more of those when we were leveling up earlier.” She shoots him one of her knowing smiles that he’s grown fond of over the years.

  He shrugs her off. “I wanted to play it safe. I knew the black marbles were explosive, and they seemed the way to go.” He returns the clear marble to the pocket on his belt. “That was definitely cooler than I thought it would be. Next time, I’ll, um, do something a bit more productive when time freezes.”

  The question he wants to ask is on the tip of his tongue.

  He holds it there, decides to go for it, decides against it. Tamana and Ryuk had been gaming together for years. Ryuk wants something more and sometimes, he thinks that Tamana does too. One of the main reasons he’d agreed to re-roll, to become a resetter and start the game with a new avatar was to show her how committed he was to her.

  Now he needed to say something about it. “Ahem … ”

  Tamana’s smile fades as the thought of real world responsibilities spreads across her face. “I really need to log out now and take care of some homework. I keep pushing it off.”

  Shit. He kicks a piece of rubble away. “Same here, but not homework – family.”

  “You’re meeting your brother today?”

  “Later today.”

  Her eyes fill with concern. “Be careful, Ryuk.”

  “You do the same.”

  “My homework isn’t that dangerous!” With a laugh, she lifts her hand and the logout button appears, rimmed in glimmering gold. “See you soon.”

  “Wait.”

  “Yes?”

  Ryuk pinches the bridge of his nose for a second, realizes he’s acting oddly, and looks up at her, away, and back again.

  “What is it?”

  He swallows hard. “Do you want to get dinner with me tomorrow night? I’d really like that.”

  She shrugs him off. “Tomorrow night? Yeah, that’ll work. Same place? I love the miso ramen there.” Tamana cocks her head at him. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

  Dammit, Ryuk thinks, don’t be awkward!

  “I mean, okay, how about I just come out and say it? Would that help?”

  “You don’t like ramen?” she laughs. “I knew it! You never finish your bowl.”

  “Not that.” Ryuk wipes his hands on his pant legs. “Okay here it is. I wanted to know if you’d like to go to a nicer place, some place more romantic.”

  “More romantic?” Tamana turns away from him.

  “Yes, like one of those Italian restaurants in Ginza. Or … ” He thinks as his face fills with blood. “Tokyo Sky Tree. Yes! We could have dinner there.”

  Tamana gives him a curious look. “Are you asking me out on a date?”

  “No!” Ryuk shuffles his feet. “I mean, not exactly, um, yes exactly. Yes. Sure, let’s call it a date. What do you say?”

  She gives him a warm smile and nods. “Let’s talk about it later. Bye, Ryuk.” With that, she presses the logout button and her avatar dematerializes.

  Chapter 1: Tamana’s great leap of faith

  The NV Visor powers off.

  As Tamana has done so many times before, she takes a deep breath and returns to her reality, away from the fantasy dreamworld that is Tritania. Even though her dorm is quiet, she can still hear the techno-mechanical bustle of the Tokyo streets below. There’s an indention on her brow, something she occasionally experiences when she wears a visor for too long.

  She places the NV Visor on her pillow and takes off her haptic gloves.

  Tamana sighs as she looks at a Flight Feet poster tacked to her wall. Set in Tritania, the same world she frequently dives to, the anime series reenacts famous quests and looting adventures. She’s followed the show for years, and two summers ago, she went to the annual Flight Feet convention at Tokyo Big Sight as Empress Thun.

  “Just for a few hours,” she reminds herself. The thought of Ryuk asking her on a date returns to her. She smiles and the floor beneath her gently vibrates.

  Typical for earthquake-prone Japan, Tamana hardly notices the subtle tremor.

  She opens her eyes and her iNet screen appears directly on her retinae. She rereads the last real world message she received from Ryuk. He still doesn’t like the fact that she’d decided to start over in Tritania with brand new avatars, but he went along with it and she appreciates that about him.

  She appreciates a lot about him, actually. Ryuk is a great guy, and while she never really explored it, her feelings for him have really grown since they graduated high school. He isn’t like the other gamers she’d met. He’s polite, quiet, considerate. Handsome too.

  Tamana is just about to send Ryuk a message telling him she’d love to go on a date when something outside strikes the wall, bulging it inward.

  The air conditioner jumps loose and hits the floor, its cord still plugged in.

  Panicked, Tamana leaps to her feet and moves for the door; moves as far away as she can get from whatever is bulging the wall.

  The wall flexes and ripples; a crack forms and grows from floor to ceiling. Bits and pieces of concrete and plasterboard tumble to the floor in a cloud of dust. As the crack widens, a hideous yellow eye peers in at her; a tremendous carnivore’s claw tears at the hole and widens it.

  Tamana shrieks her surprise and terror, bolts from the room and slams the door behind her. She stops, looks back, listens intently for a moment as her breath comes hard and fast.

  She rubs her eyes. Whatever she just saw can’t be real.

  As if to give lie to that thought, the creature explodes through the wall and collapses into the hallway. It rises to its haunches; snarls, roars, and inflates the sacs around its neck into a monstrous veiny ruff. The monstrosity bellows again, curls its tongue and gnashes the ivory scimitars that are its teeth.

  It can’t be real.

  No one else sees it or hears it; there’s no noise, no commotion, no panicked exodus.

  And then the creature’s stats appear:

  Gunsyakhai ‘Land Dragon’ Level ??

  HP: 3400/3400

  ATK: 294

  DEF: 551

  MATK: 0

  MDF: 471

  LUCK: 12

  “Stats? A land dragon?” she whispers, just as her reptilian brain votes overwhelmingly for FLIGHT and propels her to the main entrance of her dormitory. “Run!” she shrieks over her shoulder to a girl exiting her room. “It’s coming!”

  “What?”

  “RUN!”

  She doesn’t wait for her dorm mate to response; she doesn’t wait to hear the land dragon tear her to shreds and snap her bone
s.

  Seven stories worth of stairs make Tamana’s legs rubbery and weak, but she ignores the pain. Escape is everything; she pushes herself to gain as much distance from the monster as possible. Only when she has burst out to the busy streets of Shibuya does she stop to take a breath.

  A bicyclist whips past her and nearly sends Tamana to the ground.

  Damn!

  A construction worker in baggy jodhpurs, a hachimaki headscarf, and a hard hat carries his lunch pail to his jobsite. A teen dressed as a maid clicks and clacks her heels against the pavement as she heads to the subway station, bound for Akihabara. A cacophony of bells and whistles chases a cloud of cigarette smoke through the open door of a pachinko parlor.

  Tamana sucks in great volumes of tainted air and turns her head and looks up at her dormitory building.

  It’s nothing … She rubs her temples for a moment and forcibly exhales.

  Seven stories above her, the glass siding of her dormitory explodes outward as the land dragon plummets from the building. Its tiny wings flap hummingbird fast to no avail. The creature’s shadow looms over her; she dodges as shards of glass rain down around her.

  This can’t be happening!

  She’s already in motion as a shockwave knocks her forward. She refuses to look over her shoulder, refuses to let the creature catch her.

  “Ryuk,” she says the name of her best friend again, “Ryuk!”

  An instant message box appears on her pupil-based iNet screen.

  Tamana: Help me! Near you! Going to Shinsen Station!

  He replies instantly.

  Ryuk: What’s happening!?

  Tamana: Please, it’s coming!

  A person in a Kumamon outfit stands outside an electronics store touting a sale. Tamana blazes past and shouts “Run!” over her shoulder.

  Too late.

  The costumed huckster’s cry of alarm cuts off as the land dragon stomps him flat.

  Fear makes her swift, so focused is she on escape. Tamana races for the station, her only hope of sanctuary and salvation. She smacks her knee into an outdoor stand in front of a kissaten. Tears stream back across her face as she catches another message from Ryuk.