Chapter 3: Old Threats Made New

Savior Online - and the Immers platform itself - was the brainchild of Mohammad Said Pasha, a self-made billionaire entrepreneur from Trenton, New Jersey. A serial entrepreneur, Pasha had created and sold multiple unicorn startups between 2024 and 2043, all within the artificial intelligence field. His last project, a public-private partnership between his brain-electronics interface startup, Neuro, and the United States Military produced the first prototype of the Immers platform.

Originally built to control unmanned drones in combat missions from afar, the Immers platform intercepted the brain waves of its user and transferred the information to the receiver in the field. The pilot - who could be any infantry soldier, as special training was not necessary - would sit safely from anywhere in the world and control the unmanned vehicle, drone, or android in the warzone. Their thoughts were translated automatically by the Immers platform into understandable instructions that drove the machine on the other end. The largest impediment to the platform was, of course, lag, as the speed of light was an immutable constant. However, with the implementation of the GlobalWebsphere in 2043, a terabyte of data could be transferred in under a minute from anywhere in the world, which allowed the technology to truly shine.

After finishing the project with the military, Pasha realized the immensely profitable opportunity for full-dive VR capabilities in the video gaming world. He spun out a branch of Neuro - dubbed eventually as NeuroGaming - to develop what was now known as the Immers platform. Using the ham-fisted approach of throwing his immense wealth into the company, Pasha was able to poach the best talent in the VR, AI, and MMO industries, and four years later, in 2047, the most highly anticipated game in history, Savior Online, was born.

Like most titans of industry, Pasha's hubris would be his downfall. Having lived his entire life surrounded by immense wealth, he had become accustomed to acting with impunity and solving any potential issues that he created by simply spending more money. This personality naturally engendered some internal opposition. Most of the time this opposition culminated in some sort of high-profile split with the company, but this time the employee was determined in his revenge.

Hao Li, one of the leading network security specialists on Pasha's team, had been constantly overlooked in both the funding and appreciation departments. After having discovered a potentially lethal vulnerability in the Immers system, Li was threatened by Pasha with a lawsuit and forced to sign an NDA to protect Neuro's reputation and military contracts. This had finally pushed him over the edge.

Over the next few weeks, Li carefully hid the exploit in the Immers and Savior Online source code with the guidance of a black-hat hacker collective seeking to ransom the players to Pasha for a huge sum of money.

On the first day of release, their plan went off without a hitch. The collective activated the exploit, initiating the Death Game, and successfully ransomed over $200 million from Pasha. However, unbeknownst to Li, the collective was more interested in the ideological ramifications of their plot than the money, and had modified his exploit behind his back. To them, these players were mere symbols of the developed world waging war on the impoverished of Earth for the sake of increasing consumption. Those who bought the Immers platform chose to support a technology designed for more efficient killing rather than poverty-abating technologies, and were thus guilty by association. After receiving the ransom money, the collective retained the original exploit while also locking out any developers from making changes or patches to the game, leaving the players entirely to their own devices. Their only hope was Li's original failsafe - completing the game and defeating the Demon King.

The moment he received the Death Game notification would be burned into Lucas's brain for as long as he lived.

Lucas pulled at the sleeve of his starter clothes and watched the woven linen stretch naturally. He was entranced by the intricate details of this virtual world. The small crisscrossing lines of the woven material strained against one another and revealed tiny, near imperceptible holes depending on the direction he pulled, just like a real shirt would have done. It was incredible.

Spray from an ocean wave splashed over the edge of the massive ship and coated his face, breaking him from the trance with a mumbled curse as he wiped the cool, salty water from his stinging eyes. A girl beside him chuckled at him softly.

"I get that they're trying to show off the technology, but did they really have to get us soaked?" he said off to his side toward the girl, trying to make small talk.

"Complaining already?" she asked with a laugh. "I think it's marvelous."

The two took a moment to look around at the new world they had been dropped in. Dozens of massive sailing ships lined the waters as far as the eye could see, all heading toward the same forested land mass in the distance. The afternoon sun reflected brilliantly off the ocean waves that crashed violently against the hulls of the huge ships, sending spray into the air twinkling like diamonds. Overhead, seagulls and other ocean birds squawked loudly at the intruders below. Hundreds of players filled the upper deck of each ship, most standing mouth-agape as they observed the beauty surrounding them - Lucas included. Even if this game wasn't a full-dive VR, it would have been the most intricately detailed game he had ever played.

"Look at that! Dolphins!" the red-haired girl shouted to his side as she pointed over the side of the ship. A group of players rushed to the edge and watched as a pod of bottlenose dolphins leapt in graceful arcs out of the water to greet the newcomers.

"I think they could stop the demo now and I'd still think this was the greatest thing I'd ever played," a voice said from Lucas's other side. A man with short, curled brown hair and a tall nose stood mystified by the scene before them.

"This is the type of thing you remember forever," the red-haired girl noted. Lucas couldn't help but agree with them both. He had played his fair share of MMOs, and nearly all of them began with an explanatory cinematic or tutorial. However, being abruptly dropped into this incredible world and experiencing first-hand the wonders of full-dive VR was the best introduction he could have received. "Although," he thought as another wave bashed the side of the hull, once again covering him in sea water, "they could have turned the waves down a bit."

"So what do you two have planned for landfall?" the red-haired girl asked Lucas and the brown-haired tall-nosed guy.

"Gonna kill some stuff," Lucas answered, as if there were no other obvious option. It was an MMO, and the most important parts of an MMO were killing stuff to level up, and killing stuff to get loot.

"I'll probably seek out a quest-giver," the brown-haired man answered. "Quests always level you faster than indiscriminate killing. But you have fun killing the forest critters. On an unrelated note, did you know torturing and killing small animals is a tell-tale sign of a serial killer?"

The girl snickered at the jab.

"I was also thinking of looking for a quest. Usually the tutorial is tied to the beginner quests," the red-haired girl said. "I want to finish that tutorial and get my hands on some magic as fast as possible," she added while raising her half-clenched hands up in front of her. A crazed look had entered her eyes. Lucas took a half step backwards, just in case.

"Well, of course I wouldn't skip the quests…" he said, feeling a bit embarrassed that he had forgotten the most basic goal of MMOs.

"Want to party up, then?" the brown-haired man asked. "The system supports teams of three at max, and we can complete the beginner quests quicker together."

"Sure!" the girl answered happily. She pulled up a menu with a flick and, after fiddling with the hovering menu in front of her, closed it with a wave. "Nice to meet you, KindlyStop. Interesting username!"

"Thanks," the other guy said while he scratched his head. "There's a story behind it. Maybe I'll tell you sometime. I like yours, too, Summersday." He looked away from the girl toward Lucas expectantly. A small notification popped up in the corner of Lucas's vision: [KindlyStop has invited you to join a party! (2/3)]. Lucas looked over at the girl, who was also staring expectantly.

Well, this was awkward.

Lucas had planned to solo through as much of the game as possible in a rigorous marathon session. It was summer break, and he was home from university, so he had hoped to make Savior Online his new home for at least the next two weeks. These two didn't seem quite as dedicated and would probably slow him down.

He opened his mouth to decline, but closed it and reconsidered. They _had_ reminded him about the tutorial quests, after all. And, despite his bad joke, the brown-haired guy seemed to have a lot of knowledge about the game. He could always leave the party if they started to slow him down. There were 70,000 other day 1 players - what were the chances he would run into them again anyways?

"Yeah, I'll join, I guess," he answered. "Just don't slow me down."

"Don't be too enthusiastic," the man said sarcastically as he sent the party invite. "VainStrivings, eh? I hadn't taken you for a poet."

Lucas was about to argue, but a shout from the crow's nest announced that the players were to disembark. The sound of a clinking chain rang out loudly as the ship's massive anchor was dropped into the sea.

They had finally arrived in the new world.

A few impatient people leapt with whoops from the bow of the ship into the crystal clear seawater in an attempt to rush to shore. Lucas couldn't blame them - if he knew how to swim he may have joined. Instead, he and his new party jammed into a crowded rowboat that headed to land from the anchored ship. A few NPC boatmen were already in the rowboat manning the oars. Lucas wondered idly if they were invincible to damage and what loot they would drop if he attacked them.

Their small dinghy bumped into an unlucky fellow that had over-estimated his swimming abilities and drowned on the way to the island. Or maybe he had been attacked by something in the water. Either way, his floating corpse now marked an embarrassing misstep. Lucas wondered where he would respawn as the boat callously continued past, eventually coming to a stop against the white sands of the land mass.

"Welcome to Alstyn, Savior," a small message displayed at the corner of Lucas's vision as they disembarked the rowboat and trudged through the ankle-deep water to the beach. His boots and pants were soaked, but he couldn't care less. An entire world of new opportunities stretched out before him. Infinite potential waiting to be realized.

"Savior…" Lucas repeated under his breath as he marveled at the sight before him. The beach seemed like an amalgamation of every "tropical paradise" picture he had ever seen online - only this time he could reach down and feel the soft white sand drip through his fingers like liquid. Countless rowboats had now lined up along the shore as players spilled out onto the beach.

"First thing's first, let's find that quest-giver," Summersday announced to the party from behind Lucas. She was eager, which was a good sign. Perhaps she could keep up with Lucas's aggressive schedule after all.

However, before anyone could start toward the jungle ahead of them, a blaring siren echoed from everywhere at once. Lucas shoved his palms over his ears to protect from the high-pitched noise, but it seemed to have invaded his head directly and pounded against his auditory nerves relentlessly. He dropped to his knees and closed his eyes, just as those around him had also done. It seemed all the players were sharing in this torture.

Then, as fast as it had started, the siren stopped. Lucas snapped his eyes open and released the desperate breath he was holding in.

He was met with a massive message in the sky. A message that would change his life forever.

"We, the suffering masses, are afforded only one life in this world. You are not any different! Cyka!"

The message was followed by an extremely graphic ASCII penis. The old school chatbox containing the message spread out across the sky like a painting on the ceiling of a chapel, as if Michelangelo had instead been a teenager in the ex-Soviet bloc and his canvas was the Savior Online source code.

Lucas looked around at all the other dumbfounded players on the beach. They stood like chickens in rain, their mouths agape, staring at the sky in awe.

"This can't be planned, right?" Summersday asked nobody in particular.

"Seems like a hack of some sort. If there's already hackers on day 1, I'm not sure I'm going to play much longer…" KindlyStop answered.

In a flash, the letters of the message rearranged themselves into a new announcement. Clearly the hackers had planned this in advance and were going for maximum flair.

"MOHAMMED PASHA. WE CURRENTLY HOLD YOUR 70,000 PLAYERS HOSTAGE. IF THEY DIE IN SAVIOR ONLINE, OR IF THE IMMERS PLATFORM IS REMOVED FROM THEIR HEAD OR POWERED OFF, THEY WILL BE KILLED BY THE MACHINATIONS OF YOUR OWN DEVICE. SEND $200,000,000 IN CRYPTO TO THE FOLLOWING WALLET.

DO NOT FRET, PLAYERS. SHOULD PASHA REFUSE OUR DEMANDS, YOU NEED ONLY TO OVERTHROW THE DEMON KING AT THE END OF THE WORLD TO ESCAPE.

GOOD LUCK."

A long string of characters indicating the wallet's address followed the message.

Murmurs began to spread through the crowded beach.

"Can that really happen?"

"How could the devs allow this?"

"I don't want to die in this stupid game!"

"This is a terrible joke!"

The throngs of players gradually became more panicked, their voices rising to hysterically high pitches all around Lucas. Disbelief was the most common reaction, though a few people began to cry.

A virtual world where everything was on the line. A real Death Game.

Lucas couldn't help but smile.

He thought of the old life he had waiting for him outside of Savior Online. Lucas, don't play too much. Lucas, don't drive too fast. Get good grades. Avoid parties and drinking. Don't smoke. Go to university. Get saddled with debt. Get a job in an office. Take one vacation a year. Work until you die.

Was the prospect of life in a video game really so bad if you had nothing to look forward to anyways?

"Yes, I think what they say is theoretically possible. The device has access to the electrical impulses in your brain, after all," KindlyStop answered to a group of girls next to him. Each had tears in their eyes as he spoke.

"The log-out button doesn't work," Summersday said from Lucas's other side. He watched as she pressed the button over and over to no effect. He pulled his own menu up and clicked the small circled X in the corner. Nothing.

"Quite the tutorial," he joked to the red-haired girl. "Well, I wasn't busy this afternoon anyways. If we're going to kill this Demon King, we should probably start leveling up, right?"

"You're taking this rather well," she answered to Lucas. "You don't have anything you want to return to?"

Lucas thought for a moment and was morbidly surprised when he came up blank. He'd miss his family and friends, but he had planned on moving away after finishing university anyways. This just kind of moved plans up a bit. There was nobody he was especially close to in his life. No pets, no lifelong childhood friends like some sort of movie character. He shrugged.

"Not really."

"That's sad," Summersday said with a frown. "I'll miss my cat the most."

"I'm the sad one?" Lucas japed. The girl shot him a glare, but they didn't have time to stare much longer, as a scream punctuated the frightened murmuring of the throngs of players on the beach.

A message popped up at the top of Lucas's vision:

[New Quest: Defeat the Demon King's Sentries!]

Dozens of sentient plants began to emerge from the jungle at the head of the beach. Standing about three feet tall, they waved about whip-like vines that were covered in thorns, and sported multi-colored flowers from the top of their verdant stems. Brown, snarled roots shuffled below them like hundreds of spindly arachnids carrying the larger plant frame above. A name was displayed at the top of Lucas's vision when he looked at one:

[Ambling Thorn Bush]

A bright light flashed at Summersday's waist as a shortsword materialized on her belt. She drew it in a single fluid motion and stared down the advancing enemies, a fire burning in her eyes. Looking back, that was probably when Lucas fell in love.

"Quite the tutorial," she parroted to Lucas, her eyes still locked on the plants exiting the treeline at the head of the beach.

Lucas hardly heard her, though, as he frantically patted around his waist. Why didn't he have a sword like her? Nothing on his back, either. How was he supposed to face this game if it didn't even provide him with a weapon? After a few seconds, he raised his hands in a desperate boxing position and prepared to fight the advancing plants. He locked onto the closest ambling plant and braced himself for pain.

"I haven't seen one of these in years," Lucas said to Joten while locked onto the [Ambling Thorn Bush] in the coniferous mountain forest. The pair had barely made it a hundred steps from his former mountain home before the plant had pulled itself from the ground and attacked.

Joten had already readied an arrow on his shortbow and trained it on the plant. His stance with the bow was impressively professional, and reminded Lucas of Ben's disciplined form. Although the red strawberry smears that still covered his lips and cheeks detracted a bit from his serious image.

"Would you like me to take care of it?" he asked.

"Be my guest," Lucas answered, hoping to catch a glimpse of his fighting abilities. Very few NPCs were trained in battle, and they were mostly city or castle guards. He had never heard of a townsfolk NPC taking up arms - no less being trained by a player to become a ranger.

Joten released the arrow with a whispered twang. It sailed through the forest, just barely clearing the underbrush, and pierced the ambling plant directly in the flower atop its frame. A dark black ooze began to seep from the pink petals. It was the same type of monster Lucas had encountered on his first day in Savior Online - which meant something was wrong. Those monsters on the first day had inhabited the jungles near the southeastern corner of the Alstyn continent. Prolific as they were, he had not encountered them once in the past 9 years outside of that biome. Now one had appeared just outside of his home, thousands of feet up in the mountains on the northern side of the continent. Lucas procured his [Cara's Botany Journal] from his inventory and prepared to take a few notes about the wayward creature.

"Nice shot," he remarked to Joten before taking a few steps toward the downed plant. It seemed Ben's experiment was a success - the NPCs could be taught to fight after all. He turned to elaborate on the impeccable one-shot kill, but his words caught in his throat before he could say anything.

A small "Congratulations!" message had appeared above Joten's head as he crouched in the underbrush.

"Did you just… level up a skill?" Lucas asked incredulously. NPCs did NOT have a skills panel, that much he knew for certain. They were a set, immutable strength determined by the system to serve as a backdrop in the world of Alstyn. Players were the protagonists in the story of Savior Online, so why would NPCs need skills too? Why blur the lines between the real and the fake unnecessarily?

"Yes!" Joten replied happily. "I've just hit level 44 in my Archery skill."

"That's higher than mine!" Lucas shouted. The anomalies were stacking up faster than he could comprehend them - and what's more, the NPC was a better archer than him already!

"Oh, wow! Would you like me to teach you some things?" Joten asked innocently. Lucas considered spanking the boy over his knee for the disrespect.

"That's alright," he said instead. "I'm sure I could just throw my sword and have the same effect," he grumbled, not jealous in the slightest.

Joten smiled and opened his mouth to probably continue saying something inflammatory, but instead his face dropped like he had seen a ghost.

"Look out!"

Lucas ducked his head just in time as a massive vine as thick as his leg whipped past his head. The long verdant appendage flicked backwards with a loud snap like a bullwhip and tore through a full-grown pine to Lucas's right, causing the huge mass to tumble to the forest floor in a cacophony of crashing branches and snapping twigs.

Another vine followed the first, this time directed at Lucas's center mass. He dove to the side with haste, brushing his face and hands into the underbrush of the forest floor, narrowly avoiding the vine's second attack as well. Footsteps from behind signaled Joten moving up beside him.

"What is that thing?" Joten asked with a quaver in his voice. Lucas picked himself up from the dirt and locked onto the hulking floral creature that had risen from the corpse of the previous [Ambling Thorn Bush]. It had sprouted dark purple petals from every twisted and gnarled branch that extended from its massive trunk - now as wide as Lucas was tall - and where before it had walked on spindly brown roots it now slithered on green, thick, thorny vines.

[Mutated Ambling Thorn Bush] appeared at the top of Lucas's vision.

"Looks like you're not the only one who leveled up."