The World Jumper: A LitRPG Adventure

CONTENTS

Contents

PROLOGUE

LAST DAY

MISSING

LOGGED IN

UNCHARTED

THE PLAYER

MAGIC IN THE AIR

NERFED

THE WAVE

THE WAY TO THE CASTLE

GHOSTS IN THE MACHINE

OF FIRE AND GOLD

THE KNIGHT

THE BOOK

THE SWARM

HARDWARE

THE WAR INSIDE

STUCK

THE BIG-EYED GIRL

THE TOWERS

THE BLACK BEASTS

A LEAP OF FAITH

THE VOID

FSCK THE POLICE

THE MAGE

A CUP OF TEA

MODERN WARFARE

THE HORSE

THE SKY PALACE

ENDGAME

LOGGED OFF

BOSS FIGHT

DIVIDE AND CONQUER

EPILOGUE

About Chip Munster

PROLOGUE

The girl had fallen from the sky, striking like thunder in the snow. The whole ice sheet seemed to rumble and shake when she landed, but after the initial shock, she was no more than that: just a girl, carrying a useless weapon and wearing clothes that were way too revealing and completely impractical in this frozen world. And now she was slipping down, slowly but surely drifting to her death.

Because there was death down there.

John watched. He wasn’t sure about what to do except watch.

The girl was standing in the middle of the slope, a few dozen yards below the top and a few dozen yards above a row of sharp promontories marking the end of the peak. She was desperately trying to avoid going down that way and being crushed against the spikes and edges. She tried to stick her sword to the ground, but the ice sheet was smooth and hard, and it proved useless. She kept slipping.

Up there, the creatures were looking at her.

Unlike her, they were actually wearing reasonable clothes for this world: heavy boots with spiky bottoms, thick furry coats, and dark glasses to protect them against the everpresent white glow. The girl had to be freezing, John thought, with that tiny top and loincloth that barely covered anything. It was an utterly inadequate attire for a frozen realm, and it was doing her no good. The cold would be biting at her, hard and ruthless.

Olivia took John’s hand as they both stared at the girl. The creatures standing at the top of the peak seemed to be amused at her plight.

John and Olivia were crouching behind a big rock, out of the creatures’ view. They were just deciding whether they should attack them when the girl fell from the sky. Both of them had rifles, and the creatures had more primitive weapons: simple spears and harpoons, and a couple of slingshots they used to shoot iceballs. They were also small and weak, their stats capped at about 120 Health Points and with very low Strength and Agility. They were nothing to write home about, really; but the landscape played in their favor.

John and Olivia had a good chance of winning; the girl, on the other hand, was completely disadvantaged. Her weight kept pulling her down towards the deadly barrier, a bit faster with each passing second.

We have to help her, Olivia said.

How?

I don’t know.

The girl kept slipping down. She had come from the sky, but she couldn’t fly. She was as tied to the ground as everybody else, and where she was, the ground was death.

OK, get ready, John said. Olivia checked her rifle and waited.

Hey! he called.

The girl looked up and saw him immediately. She was only a few yards away, but there was no way she could reach them, nothing she could hold on to. She had nowhere to go except down.

The creatures standing at the top of the peak looked at him too. And they attacked.

The first iceball hit the rock and shattered to nothingness. The second one grazed his nose before he could take cover behind the rock. Those motherfucking things had excellent aim.

Olivia shot her rifle. She didn’t hit anything.

No! the girl shouted as she kept slipping down the icy slope. You fools!

What? Olivia screamed.

You should have stayed hidden! the girl replied. She kept drifting down, hitting the ice with her sword in a useless attempt to anchor herself.

A losing strategy.

You are the one who— John started, but he had to roll aside and cover himself again when a spear went flying between him and Olivia and drove itself deep into the snow.

Don’t worry, the slipping girl said. I will save you!

She kept going down, faster and faster.

The iceballs were raining on them now. A harpoon hit the rock and bounced with a weird clannnng, spreading frozen powder over their heads. There was no way they could peek out, point their rifles, and try to take down at least one of those fucking things.

I am Sajya, the girl yelled as she kept sliding down the slope. Once more, she tried to nail her sword into the ice and failed. But this time she lost her grip, the sword went away flying, and she fell forward. She started going down faster now that she wasn’t standing anymore but lying face down on the ice. You need to hold on until I come back! she added. It will only be a minute.

Oh my, she’s completely crazy, John thought, as Olivia held on tight, kissed him, and went back to watching this girl Sajya.

The creatures had now pretty much forgotten about them, and were amusing themselves throwing iceballs down the slope trying to hit Sajya. One or two of them fired their harpoons, but they missed, and pulled them back with the ropes.

Sajya was already going down quite fast when she slammed the ice with her feet, keeping her legs stiff and straight like planks. This didn’t stop her descent but destabilized it, separating her from the ground. She rolled back, faster, faster, dangerously approaching the sharp, deadly promontories below. She kept falling, bouncing like a ragdoll, and then she jumped.

They have a dragon! she yelled as a warning as she ascended like a bullet in a straight line to the sky.

A moment later, she had disappeared.

What the— Olivia said, but John covered her mouth with this hand. The creatures had stopped attacking now, as they were all looking up in confusion.

We need to hold on, he whispered. She said she would be back.

I took a look at her stats, Olivia said, in a whisper too.

So?

She’s not very powerful.

She just shot up into the sky.

I know, Olivia insisted, but she’s just like us. A normal player.

But where did she come from?

How would I know? Olivia asked, irritated. "I don’t even know where I came from. And you don’t know either."

They stayed there, parapeted against the rock, waiting for Sajya to come back.

A minute later, she came back.

She fell from the sky, again, but this time she stayed in the air.

Hello, motherfuckers.

She was standing on some kind of glider that left her whole body exposed but seemed to have an extremely high maneuverability in compensation. In her right hand she held a futuristic-looking pistol; there was another device in her left hand whose exact shape or purpose John couldn’t make out.

The creatures threw their spears at her, their harpoons, they shot iceballs at her. Sajya moved up and down with a clumsy grace, avoiding nearly all projectiles, except a couple of iceballs that almost knocked her down. She answered the attack firing her pistol. It was a laser pistol, and the green beams coming from it filled the air with a whoosh. She took out one creature after another. They stopped attacking and started running; it was pointless. A few seconds later, they were all dead.

There are three health packs and two Mana crates on that side of the peak, Sajya explained, in a calm voice. A dragon is literally sitting on top of them. I will grab them now, if you don’t mind.

She let the glider take her across the top of the peak, and soon she was out of sight.

A moment later, a tremendous roar seemed to shake the whole world. John and Olivia were so startled that they lost their balance and rolled a few feet down in the snow, but they managed to stand back up and return to the rock.

From the other side of the mountain came a different sound now, as distinct as a human voice. The sound of a dragon blowing fire. They could see the flames rising up the sky, illuminating the top of the peak, giving the snow an orange tint, and partially melting it. Then another roar, then a new burst of fire.

And then, a different sound, a different glow.

The sound was the sound of energy. It was how you imagine a planet-destroying beam would sound like. The sound of neutrons and photons and electrons going mad, enjoying their freedom in a sudden, concentrated burst.

The whole landscape turned green for a moment. Something heavy fell and rolled down the peak, tumbling and bouncing with its dead weight. Then there was only silence.

A normal player, you say? John asked.

A normal player, Olivia echoed, with some cool toys.

LAST DAY

No... there must be more.

And you and I, son, we will find it.

— Peter Weyland, Alien: Covenant

The day Sarah’s boss had his second stroke was the day she quit.

Her job at Digidream was not bad; much to the contrary, it was awesome. She had been incredibly lucky to be selected for the position while being only twenty years old. She was in charge of testing different features of a highly experimental game that had been in the making for years and that was supposed to revolutionize the industry. It was so cutting edge that on occasion, even she didn’t have a clue about what it was exactly she was testing.

Not the industry. We will revolutionize the whole society, the owner and head of the company, Victor Anderen, was fond of saying. And he was so energetic and contagious that you would find yourself agreeing with him despite yourself. He was over sixty already, but he radiated the energy of youth, as if he and Sarah were of one age.

The first stroke had hit just a few months earlier, but Mr. Anderen came back to the job barely two days after that, giving orders and pushing ideas among the developers. It was like nothing had happened to him, like he had just taken a couple days off. If anything, he seemed to be even more enthusiastic and energetic than before, walking through the corridors at a brisk pace, checking on everyone’s work, lifting the spirits. Great job, Sarah, he said one day, putting his hand on her shoulder and flashing a wide smile. You’re so valuable for the company. I’m happy to have you around.

The second stroke hit the day Sarah was testing the new suspension system, designed to maximize the player’s immersion. It had cost a small fortune (... well, maybe not so small) in research and development, but it was finally here: an individual levitation tank with a reticule of sensors that allowed it to register the exact position of your body, inch by inch, in order to gently push the air around you as necessary to keep you floating in place, without touching the walls or floor of the tank. This way you could let your body abstract itself from the sensory and positional feedback from the real world and get fully immersed in the game. Body and mind working together, or body and soul, as Mr. Anderen liked to say.

It was already late, and Mike would be waiting for her to go out with him, but Victor had insisted on doing the test for the suspension device, and he was so enthusiastic that she got enthusiastic too, and said yes. So she had climbed into the tank when the sky was already going dark outside. Working for a genius like him was such a privilege that she felt it was worth it. Mike would understand. Also, she would just be a little late, not miss their date altogether. Heck, he’s probably eating all I have in the fridge, she had chuckled to herself as she undressed and put on the full body suit for the simulation.

"Mr. Anderen, this is great, Sarah said, impressed, as she explored the gameworld. She could barely feel the touch of the paper-thin VR band (VR standing for virtual reality") in front of her eyes, and the sound coming from inside the tank eliminated the need of earphones so there was no VR helmet or any other heavy devices weighing on her. The skintight suit she was wearing communicated her motion and other data, like body temperature and humidity, to the computer. Floating in the air, with barely anything attached to her body, she abandoned herself to the sensations provided by the game.

I wish we had finished the scenario so that you’d have more to see and hear, the company’s owner said, but we’ll have to make do with this rough draft. His voice came to Sarah as if he was speaking from somewhere in the back of her head. It was weirdly intimate.

Mr. Anderen’s words were a false apology: beneath the apparent complaint about the unfinished scenario, his voice betrayed his pride and satisfaction. And he had every right to feel satisfied. The place Sarah was exploring was amazingly rich and detailed, full of sound and vivid color, almost comparable to real life.

It was a version of the Enchanted Forest. The team had been working on it for months, artists and developers collaborating closely to get it just right, but they still had work to do. You wouldn’t be able to say it from being there, though. Sarah took a step and the grass and leaves emitted the appropriate sounds under the weight of her foot. She closed her eyes and listened. There were birds singing far away, and a gentle breeze played the foliage of the trees like a flute. She opened her eyes again. Light came to her in a burst, just like when you open your eyes in the real world. She let the breeze caress her scantily clad body. The game had equipped her with delicate, almost ethereal clothes, like those of a fairy. She was barefoot, and her loose hair danced around her in the playful air.

Can you see this, Mr. Anderen? she asked, as a butterfly came to rest on her naked shoulder. She felt it tingling as the tiny legs touched her skin. She became aware of her own changed body too: the butterfly waved its wings against her ear, and the ear was big and pointy. She touched it with her hand. The tip of the ear felt just like it would feel if it were real. Her back had changed too: there were two zones where she could feel the weight and touch of parts that were attached to them where nothing had been before. Her wings. Her fairy wings.

I can, Victor Anderen said, his voice surging from somewhere in her own head. And it’s beautiful. Why don’t you try flying?

Sarah frowned. She had never thought of that, but of course this would be the litmus test for the new suspension system: flying had to feel different if she was actually floating in thin air instead of just standing on the floor wearing a VR headset.

Let’s see. How can I fly? If I try to move my wings...

She tried to concentrate on the areas of her back where the wings were attached now. There were muscles there, and she would naturally be able to move them. It was like raising an arm or a leg.

After a few tries, she managed to do it. Her wings trembled slightly, then agitated with more decision. A few seconds later, they were in full motion. But she was still on the ground.

Oh, that’s it. I have to jump. Then the wings will keep me in the air.

She jumped up. She didn’t make a great effort, maybe expecting to fail, but she found herself propelled upward by the force of her wings, and then hanging in the air from her back, like some clothes left out to dry.

It was amazing. And beautiful.

She arced her back and managed to get in a vertical position. She was a couple feet above the ground now, and it really felt like flying. She had to make a conscious effort to remind herself that she was not actually a fairy, but a human girl who was not in the Enchanted Forest but in a levitation tank inside a high-tech building.

She pushed forward with her torso. Her body responded instantly. Now, she was flying.

She felt the dampness in her face as tears of joy ran down her skin. She hoped Mr. Anderen wouldn’t notice. She pushed forward, and felt the acceleration.

Suddenly, something happened.

It was like a very faint tickling, embracing her whole body at once. It lasted for a fraction of a second. It was accompanied by a subdued, almost imperceptible buzzing sound, and a legend appearing right in front of her. It was written in greenish blue letters, slightly glowing, partially transparent.

Skill acquired: Flight

A notification from the game.

Oh, they changed this, she muttered, as she kept flying.

We did. It’s more organic now, and less invasive. Do you like it?

Yes, it’s way better, she replied, descending on a new area of the forest, where the vegetation was thicker and the sunlight had more trouble to pass through the foliage. The sounds had changed accordingly. Now she heard fewer birds singing and more creatures crawling and climbing the trees. Insects, of course, but maybe serpents as well, perhaps some monkey. It was more jungle than forest in this place. They must have made a compressed map for this test. If I keep going, there will be a beach and then a castle and then some snowy mountains and after that, maybe a modern city.

She took a walk, stopped, turned around, and concentrated on the sensations. She gave a small jump and she was floating again.

It’s... it’s awesome, Mr. Anderen, she said. She couldn’t find any better words. I’m here. It’s like I’m really here. Floating in the air, and I have wings. I can really fly. And I feel the breeze and the sounds. It’s a completely different experience. If this passes all the tests—

It has.

It has?

It has passed your test. This is all I needed. Sarah, I trust you completely.

Sarah felt flattered. She couldn’t help it. She had been working so hard for this, and now the game was really taking shape, partly thanks to her. It was a beautiful thing what they were building, so beautiful she had cried.

Is it changing?

What? Victor Anderen asked.

The forest. It’s changing, right? These vines weren’t here a moment ago.

Are you sure?

"Yes. I looked all around and they weren’t — hey!"

The vines had taken hold of one of her feet. She jumped up and took flight, but she was pulled down again. Now she was beginning to despair. Well, this is certainly immersive, she thought as she struggled to get free. But the vines kept crawling around her leg, then the other. I forgot that this is just a simulation. I should be ashamed. The vines kept encircling her. They went around her knees, then her thighs, sliding over and under her tiny fairy dress. Sarah started panicking again. Even though none of this was actually happening, the sensations were all too real. She felt the pressure and the harsh, muddy touch of the vines running all over her skin, trapping her in a deadly embrace, threatening to rip her clothes off and crush her delicate wings. They were already closing around her throat when she mustered the energy to scream.

NO!!!

And then it was all gone.

She was floating inside the levitation tank, staring at a huge, dark, almost empty room. Victor Anderen was there, eyeing her with a worried expression.

I’m sorry, Sarah. Must have been a glitch, he said, with forced casualness.

She opened the tank and climbed out. She was still shuddering from the experience.

Oh, it’s no problem, she said. I guess it’s good, actually. It was incredibly realistic. I totally though I was about to die for a second. I know it was a glitch, but it felt so real. It’s the most immersive experience I’ve ever had, even since I started working here.

And you had a big part in that.

Victor Anderen was smiling now. He let his hand rest on Sarah’s shoulder. He was a tall man, handsome for his years; the impeccable suit fit his air of authority.

Well... Sarah said. She felt almost naked with the skintight suit, and wanted to change her clothes and leave. She was supposed to meet Mike at ten, and it was already a quarter past that. With luck, she would make it home in twenty minutes, but she would need to get ready immediately.

I can’t stress enough how important you’ve been for this project, Mr. Anderen said. You gave me valuable data at every step so I could envision the gameworld and mechanics. He looked straight in her eye, and his tone became passionate as his grip on her shoulder became stronger. "Sarah, we made this together."

OK, now things are taking a turn for the weird, Sarah thought as she shook his hand off her.

She had become aware of the strangeness of the situation. Most certainly, no other developers or testers remained on the building; only Victor