Level Zero by Knuth Jaron Lee

Author:Knuth, Jaron Lee [Knuth, Jaron Lee]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Published: 2011-11-05T16:00:00+00:00

010111

“Spend every last Koin you've got,” I say as the group purchases as many explosives, special munitions, and armor upgrades as our avatars can carry. “Who knows if we'll even be near another equipment shop.”

When I notice that Cyren isn't buying anything, she assures me that she's already maxed out. She tells me that she's a weapon-user, but when I ask her what weapon she chose, she just holds up her fist.

“Cyren is her own weapon,” Fantom says with an evil grin.

For some reason, I find this incredibly attractive. The feelings I have when I look at her buckled, leather outfit confuse me. Girls are too much of a distraction. I don't let myself get lost in the thoughts because I know what that does to people. I only have to look at Xen.

I feel the need to point out to the group that Xen is our weak link, which he doesn't take enough offense to. He accepts the fact and isn't bothered that I bring it up in front of the group.

“I am only Level 2,” he says. “I think I am close to leveling though.”

“No worries,” Fantom says. “We'll like, keep an eye on you or whatever.”

“He's going to die,” I say. “Or we will, trying to keep him alive.”

“Arkade is right,” Cyren says. “It'd be better for him to stay here, where we know he's safe.”

Xen's voice remains calm and peaceful. “That is not going to happen. I am coming with you. Omniversalism teaches us to be brave, even in the face of imminent failure.”

I start to argue more, but Fantom interjects. “It'll be fine. With the amount of NPCs we're going to have to kill, our group will be like, power-leveling him or whatever. He'll catch up faster than you think, yo.”

I can tell Cyren is still worried. I feel an urge to reach out and touch her shoulder. I want to comfort her and tell her not to worry, but I catch my thoughts and keep my hands to myself. Both of them.

“Are we ready for this?” Ekko says, then his image shakes and blinks, which fills me with anything but confidence.

I grab my trench coat off the mangled avatar of their former group member, Klok. “Are we just leaving him here?”

Fantom looks down at him and says, “There's like, no point in trying to save his avatar. It's too late for that. His real body is what we're worried about now. If everything goes according to plan, and we can figure out a way to like, log out or whatever, maybe we can still save him, yo.”

I feel better with my coat on, like I'm Arkade again, the same kid who ran circles around players in the original DangerWar. I adjust my cowboy hat and step over Klok's avatar.

Fantom steps up to the main door and says, “When Arkade opens this, we need to be ready for the worst. There could be like, an entire army out there waiting for us, yo. And it might not be just the low Level NPCs or whatever.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.