Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream

Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream Read Free Page B

Book: Brent Roth - The Dragon's Wrath: A Virtual Dream Read Free
Author: Brent Roth
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of it.
    The old man had taken a few minutes to gather his thoughts before speaking up once more, "I have a task for you, young one. I would like you to bring back ten rabbits for the village, as the winter is proving quite harsh this year and we are short on food. Will you accept this quest?"
    Without hesitation I nodded my head, "Yes, of course."
    I didn't know what the reward would be, but navigating the Menu and opening my [Quest Log] I could see that it was considered an easy quest and had a simple tracker: [Rabbits collected: 0/10].
    It was a basic quest that I would have done on my own anyhow, even if he hadn't asked.
    Having finished separating the pelt from the meat, I quickly sold the meat to the local trader for a lousy sum of twelve copper coins. The pelt was worth thirty-six copper coins despite the multiple puncture wounds since it was of a decent enough quality. From what I could gather, unless it was way below standard or way above, it was a flat rate of thirty-six copper.
    Not much, but certainly better than nothing.
    A rabbit pelt was only worth two copper, with the meat worth one.
    On the other hand, a fox pelt was worth nine copper, with the meat worth three.
    Walking back out into the cold winter air, I found the tanner and the blacksmith next door as he was pulling double duty in this unpopulated village by working both jobs. With smoke billowing from his outdoor workplace and a multitude of furs and hides stretched out on a rack, he was hard to miss.
    After a brief discussion, I walked away three tanned fox pelts richer and one wolf pelt lighter. I lost nine copper on the deal but I wouldn’t have to wait two days to tan nor another day for the leatherworker to finish what I wanted.
    It was a good trade for me.
    Time was money.
    Making my way over to the leatherworker and tailor of the village, another person who was pulling double duty, I soon found myself at the small hut of a middle-aged widow and her two children. As I was invited into the small hut I couldn't help but feel bad for the conditions of squalor she and her children were living in.
    She may have been an NPC but the game designers had given every Non-Player Character their own limited Artificial Intelligence. They were supposedly quite realistic, but no one really had much experience with them yet to quantify those statements.
    After a short discussion she agreed to fashion a pair of boots out of the fox furs and a light cap as well. She would need at least two days to finish the boots but could have the cap ready tomorrow, and all in all it would cost me twenty-four copper for the work.
    I, of course, only had twelve copper on hand.
    Working out a second deal, she took the twelve copper as down payment and would require the rest on pick-up. A fair deal, yet again …so far, I liked these AIs quite a bit.
    They were quite reasonable.
    Looking up at the night sky above me, free from the light pollution of modern cities, the vast array of countless stars and planets littered my view. The moon was shining with a bright blue hue while its own little satellite shined a bright white.
    I didn't understand the science behind it, but you didn't need science to appreciate beauty.
    Even if it was an artificial nature, it was still a beautiful nature.
    Soon, this virtual world would become quite popular and I wondered how long I would be able to enjoy this scenery by my lonesome. This was only the first day of the game's release after all. Actually, it was only the first four hours and twenty-three minutes of the game's release, as it was now just ticking over to 4:24 AM local time.
    Thankfully for me, local time was also server time as the headquarters and main servers were all located in California. That little bonus allowed me the ability to be amongst the first players to log into the game immediately upon release.
    But now it was time for bed.
    With a little less than three hours before the sun would rise in the real world, and a little less than

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