Shaman's Call- Chapter 3 (Patreon)

Chapter 3- Being Useful

Instead of waking up in a cemetery or church as were the most usual respawn spots for players in Legends of Selmia, I saw blackness engulf my vision and then was floating bodiless in a vast ocean of light. There were occasional blips of brighter light against the pure white background, but they came and went so quickly that I couldn’t track them.

 UNABLE TO RESPAWN- HI HAS NOT SELECTED A RESPAWN POINT.
 LEVEL 1- MAY ONLY SELECT 1 BIND SPOT
 OPTIONS:
 1) Original formation location
 2) Spot of death

3) Ogre Fortress of Malgrim*
 4) Ogre Village of Ghazban

So, this was cool. I was glad to be alive. If I had been a player, without a bind spot, I would have just reformed in the cemetery of whatever starter zone I began in based upon character race. For me now the original formation location would have put me in the cave with the snapjaws. Although that would be preferable to the spot of my death, since that was likely still occupied by a furious bear-pede.

At least I could pick my bind spot, well from a short list. One and two were right out, leaving the fortress and the village. My initial reaction was the fortress, but then I realized I had no idea where either of them was. The fortress might be more of a city, but it needed to be close to what I knew so I could gain an advantage. I had already figured out several good hunting spots, but needed to be close to them.

 I figured I had nothing to lose, so I called out, “Excuse me. Can anyone answer some basic questions?”

 What felt like a minute passed with no response, but likely it was only a few seconds. Patience wasn’t exactly my strong suit.

 “Greetings, I am sub-AI X4.X1. I can answer basic questions for a new monster corps Hybrid Intelligence,” said a robotic voice, which spoke out of thin air.

 “I can’t see you. Where are you?”

 “Sight is unnecessary; however, I was warned about you low integration HI’s,” the same voice said. Meanwhile, a small square robot materialized out of nothingness. It was maybe three feet tall and just as wide. Two droid-like legs stuck out of the bottom on spring legs. It looked like a wider version of the Star Wars droids from the old holo-films, the remakes from 2164 not the old ones. You could only learn about those in a holo-museum.

 “That’s better. Now, where am I?”

 “You are in the loading matrix,” the robot answered. He clearly wasn’t much of a conversationalist.

 “You’re gonna have to explain what you mean by loading matrix. Try to remember this is all new to me,” I said.

 “The loading matrix is where all monster corps intelligences go upon respawn even if it is normally only for a nano-second. This includes those run by reactive AI’s and you, the supposedly better HI’s.” His tone may have remained robotic but there was something about the way he spoke that made me sure he didn’t hold the opinion that HI’s were better in any way.

 “Okay, so this is like a train station between trips. When I go back will I be in the same body as before?”

 “That is not possible. Your prior avatar was destroyed by the frost wurm,” X4.XI said.

 “Bear-pede.”

 “What is a bear-pede? There is no listing of a bear-pede in the database. Running system check.”

 “Easy, don’t blow a circuit there. A bear-pede is what I’m calling that hairy son of a gun that bit me in half,” I said, laughing.

 “The designation is frost wurm, not bear-pede. There is no such designation.”

 “Well frost wurm is a lame description for that monstrosity, so I refuse to use it.”

 X4.XI didn’t respond for a couple of seconds and then suddenly said, “Inquiry has returned. Core AI has accepted your input. Henceforth all MOBS formerly designated as frost wurms shall be designated bear-pedes.”

 “See, you can make a good decision if you want to,” I said.

 “I made no decision. I simply reported your input to the AI network. It caught the attention of the Core AI, and he modified the system. This meets one term of your contract under which you volunteered to become an HI for the monster corps.”

 “Volunteered? I didn’t volunteer for sh…” I began, but was interrupted by the AI speaking in his clinical voice. He read off for me the relevant portions of the contract I had signed in order to join the closed beta as a bug tester. I really wished that I had read the whole thing now.

 I let it go. There was no way I saw myself winning an argument with X4.XI. “So back to my question, I wasn’t asking if I would be returned to the same avatar. I was asking if I would return as an ogre.”

 X4.XI responded, “Yes, you are part of the static monster corps division. Your purpose is to learn and help design optimal play patterns for ogres. Advancements may be considered but are not guaranteed. However, you are entitled to a minor boon because of your naming convention.”

 “Okay, so always gonna be an ogre, check. Now what is a minor boon?” I asked.

 “It is a way for the AI system to encourage you to contribute in meaningful ways. Because of your suggestion a type of MOB received a new designation. The change may even go further than that as the AI network will evaluate your naming convention and may make further changes to other MOBS in the future.”

 “That tells me what its purpose is, not what it is.”

 “Yes, yes,” X4.XI said. “It would be so much more convenient if you had at least some rudimentary access to the AI network or even your own bio-digital coding.”

 I wanted to make a comment about how it would be fine by me if he granted me access to any or all of the aforementioned, but I didn’t think he had a sense of humor or was even a he. I didn’t want to come off in the wrong way now, so I just let him continue.

 “Options for minor boons include +1 to any base stat, +1% resistance to any type of damage although there are caps on those at 20% physical and 50% elemental. You can also be granted a basic skill, or one level for any basic skill or spell.”

“Intermediate boons can be double those, or a new minor spell or skill, as well as a piece of equipment of uncommon or lesser rating.”

 “Major boons include +5 to two stats, +10% to any resistance with the same caps, a journeyman level skill or spell with certain limitations, minor status modifications including permanent spell like abilities with limited daily uses, or faction modification.”

 “There are also grand boons but those are not applicable to our conversation.”

 I sat there taking it all in and then realized something. Looking at X4.XI, I asked, “I thought you said I only got a minor boon but then you told me about Intermediate and Major boons. Why is that?”

 “The system has upgraded your boon to a major boon. Further analysis suggests that this naming method will increase player enjoyment by as much as 4.3% during the initial encountering of new monsters. This defies logic, but players are illogical to begin with,” X4.XI answered.

I got excited at that point. Gaining an extra stat point or skill wasn’t something I would have turned down, but it wasn’t exactly exciting either. The major boons, on the other hand, had tons of good stuff. I threw out the bonus stat points right away as a dummy prize. Sure, it would have been valuable, but I could gain stat points by leveling.

 The damage resistances might be useful because they weren’t gear dependent. Of course, I didn’t know if they would stack with gear, but having a 10% reduction to say physical damage would be a huge boon.

 Gaining a higher-level spell or skill would give me an early game boost, if I could use it correctly. Yet that benefit would fade with time. The same might be said of a spell-like ability. It would probably be broken early on, but would have a decreasing value unless it scaled.

 I tried to ask A4. XI some questions about the boons, but he was not very forthcoming. Once I learned that a spell or spell-like ability boon would be determined by whatever the AI network thought was most valuable to me, I threw out that option. So, what did that leave?

 I grinned or would have if I had possessed a face at that moment. I should have seen it from the very beginning. I didn’t want to be a monster, and the system might have just given me a way to change that. I mean, I would still be a monster, but at least I might be able to play the game, or rather live my life with the peeps I wanted.

 “I choose a faction modification, so long as it applies to the faction of my choosing.”

 XA.XI was silent for a moment, something which I was coming to associate with him communicating with the AI network. I assumed that communication was happening at some astounding speed, which begged the question of how I even noticed it was happening, but I would leave that issue alone for now. Finally, he answered, “That is acceptable. But note that the faction can only be changed by 4000 points. It is not enough to make you the king of the ogres or anything like that.”

 My incorporeal grin got bigger as I said, “That is fine. I choose the general faction for Players.”

“Wait, that makes no sense. You are part of the monster corps. You will only lose faction with the players again as you kill them,” XA.XI replied.

 “I don’t plan to kill players.”

 “But you must. Your contract requires you to ensure the enjoyment of the players.”

 “I am going to, but not by killing them. I’m going to form parties with them. Some of them will love having an ogre in their group. It will be the ultimate novelty. Now, give me my boon unless you are changing the rules on me.”

 X4.XI’s stubby droid arm raised up as though he were going to cast a spell at me or something. He paused again for a second and then said. “The AI network considers this to be a novel experiment and is granting you a secondary boon and a new quest line. Stand by. Incoming modifications.

 I lost focus for a minute as I felt that searing pain in my head as information was implanted or I was altered. The irony being that I was incorporeal and didn’t have a head at the moment.

Faction modified:
Players (General): Tolerated (-1000)
Stats: +5 WILL (you have displayed force of will)
           +5 CON (you need to get tougher if you want to play as a bear-pede

chew toy)

New Quest: If you can’t beat them…

Join a player party and complete at least 3 hours of play with them, without

any of them intentionally killing you.

 Rewards: Player party interface (pre-emptively awarded)
                         +200 faction with Players (general)
                         +350 XP
 Failure: Removal of interface and reassignment as a sewer rat.