In the game world of Eclipse where the antics of the players, the developers, and the NPCs abound, Lucy Heartfelt has the dream of leaving her mark upon it. A childish innocence brimming with a desire to enjoy this new reality to the fullest, her fi...
Lucy went back into the forums to find that some players were raging about another aspect of the game's death penalty. Specifically, after every 3rd death, you would get a 1 hour log-in ban. She shook her head, now somewhat glad that she had been the first person to die, and her achievement negated death penalties from her character. Her gamer heart wouldn't be able to take it otherwise.
She finished her meal and collapsed the tablet as well before patting her stomach with glee.
"I'm stuffed," She said, exhaling a fresh breath.
"I can tell," Maria spoke as she moved towards her, ready to collect her empty plates. "Will you be going back into the game?"
Lucy nodded. "Aye aye, of course. The best day to get ahead of others is the launch day before information starts picking up!"
Maria smiled, plates in hand, headed towards the kitchen.
"I see. I suppose that makes sense."
"Of course—" Lucy suddenly narrowed her eyes. "Wait a minute, do you play Eclipse too?"
"Who? Me?" The maid cocked her head. "You spent three months raving about it before it released. Naturally, I decided to try it when it finally did."
Yikes. Lucy was influencing her caretaker. Maria was paid handsomely to take care of her, but a dual-buy of the game and its headset wasn't cheap. It would send anybody back at least $1,300—1k for the helmet and 300 for the game—not to mention the game's $10 monthly subscription fee. Of course, Lucy had just downright bought the life-time guarantee bundle of $3,500 dollars.
"What starting village did you choose?" She quickly asked.
"Oh. Melto. It has a horse named Juan looking for stolen hay as its quest animal. You have to run to keep up with it or wait for it to stop and look for it. The last time, I found it on a balcony of all places. . .I have to wonder how it got there."
Lucy laughed. Indeed, no matter what village a player started, the developers were evil. She stood up, waving behind her as she walked.
"I'll wish you luck."
"Same to you."
The door to her room slid open as the camera automatically recognized her.
"Alice," She said, taking off her white slippers and already well on her way to her bed, "Set a timer for 8 pm and, while I'm in the game, look for any news of future updates and adjustments from Encore. Specifically, I'm looking for implementations based on player feedback."
As calls could be answered in-game, setting a reminder for Alice to call her at a specified time wasn't a problem. The time was currently 1:45 pm and the artificial intelligence of the apartment answered just before she slipped the helmet on.
"Noted, Master." Her wristwatch blinked. "Enjoy your gaming."
Lucy grinned.
"Of course."
She pushed the headset's button and her world blacked out. Then light came, and she was back in the streets of Acron.
The bright sun in the sky. The hollowing of players. The street of dirt. The wooden buildings of various shapes and sizes. And a wall that surrounded it.
"Good ol Acron," She said, summoning her Traveler's Book and double-checking the updated quest. "Yup. Still have to go look for Dafy."
With her experience, however, finding where the duck likely was was as easy as glancing at the direction the majority of players were rushing to and listening to their hectic yelling.
"Yo, where's that duck?"
"That ducker is quacking on the western side of the wall!"
". . .did you just make a pun. . .?"
"You bet I did motherducker."
Lucy felt as if she had just lost a few brain cells but at least she got her answer. Vanishing her book, she picked up her pace and ran, following the direction of the compass.
After passing between two sets of houses, one facing her way and the other the other way, she came upon the commotion of players standing beneath the backside of one of Acron's tower as a duck's quacking could be heard.
She walked forward and saw players surrounding a ladder that led up to a watchtower upon the village's wall.
"Sorry travelers!" A voice boomed as a bow struck the wooden wall, "But the tower can only be accessed by a guard! Security, I'm afraid."
The angered yelling of players all but drowned his words away. Lucy pushed through the crowd and came upon the center of the ruckus. A leather-armored guard with a bow and a quiver was there, blocking everyone's way from climbing to reach the quacking duck.
"Oh, hey it's Eve." Someone noticed her. "The one who died first."
There were a few chuckles as glances came her way. Many more nods and 'hellos' came as well.
"Hello." She wryly smiled at them, then frowned. "Have you guys tried beating him to death?"
". . .scary."
So that was a no.
Lucy sighed and walked forward.
The ruckus quieted for a moment.
"Oh, great, another traveler. Are you here to badger me to let you pass too?" The guard looked at her with annoyance.
Lucy shook her head and brought out 10 Gilds with a wish. It appeared as a single silver coin with '10' written on it.
She coughed. "Mr. Guard, I happen to have 10 Gilds here with me. What would happen if I accidentally dropped it in your hand? And, maybe, if that does happen to distract you as I climb up without your notice, 10 more might accidentally fall from my pockets."
The guard blinked his eyes. Her statless starter shorts didn't even have pockets.
"There's no way that'll work. . ." Someone muttered.
Lucy turned back and glared at them.
"Young lady, I think that coin is about to fall from your grasp." The guard coughed as he held out his hand. "You best hold onto it tightly."
Lucy grinned. Smugly as their lips hung.
"What the fuck? It actually worked?" The players were speechless. "This guard is corrupt!"
It was their first time in a virtual reality mmorpg, after all, they hadn't thought about outright flaunting money. Lucy, on the other hand, as rich as she was in real life, had always flaunted money and so had done so here in a place that felt just as natural as reality.
"That's Eve for you huh. . .is she the first player to bribe a guard, too? Yo, can you throw that ducking duck down here when you're done?"
Just like so, she bribed a guard for 20 Gilds, bringing her current total down to 50 from 70, and climbed the tower's ladder.
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You might be wondering, "Why does the game cost so much?" Well, (1) New technology costs money and (2) Lucy lives in the fictional year of 2056. Inflation will do that.
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