Quest Accepted Read online

  XP: UNLOCKED

  BOOK ONE: QUEST ACCEPTED

  J.S. GRULKE

  J.S. GRULKE

  Copyright © 2019 by J.S. Grulke

  All rights reserved.

  Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  No part of this book (except brief quotations for articles or reviews) may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author.

  Editor: Chimera Editing

  Proofreader: Karen Bennett

  Book Cover Design: eBook Launch

  If you would like to know when my next book is released, sign up HERE.

  To Boo, who has always believed in me. This would’ve never happened without your support.

  Also,

  My amazing children, Gavin and Everleigh, I am so proud of both of you.

  Love, Dad.

  CONTENTS

  1. Serein

  2. Audyn

  3. Evan

  4. Onward

  5. Respawned

  6. The Crimson Vale

  7. Umeric

  8. Windchill Village

  9. Elixirs

  10. The Swamp

  11. The Eye

  12. Ruelle

  13. Return to the Vale

  14. The Heart Tree

  15. The Darkness

  16. Elrala

  17. The Companion and Toad

  18. Regair

  19. The Path to Helmere

  20. The Scouting Party

  21. Yar’nel Trench

  22. Helmere

  23. Cambria Keep

  24. Robere

  25. Reunited

  26. Stones

  27. Unlocked

  Final Character Sheets

  Acknowledgments

  CONNECT WITH ME!

  Want more Gamelit and LitRPG?

  1

  SEREIN

  The combination of fruity cereal and those chewy, slightly stale marshmallows looked even cooler together than Evan had expected. He tossed some peanut butter crunch in for good measure. Hey, it was protein, right?

  “You’re not seriously going to eat that, are you?”

  His sister’s scorn was nothing new, but he still mentally sighed. Ever since the trials, their once close relationship had boiled down to sniped comments and abuse from her, patient tolerance from him.

  It wasn’t worth taking the bait. “Your favorite oatmeal is in the second cupboard to the right. I wasn’t sure you’d be up this early.”

  Audyn huffed, pulling her ash brown hair into a ponytail as she sat at the dark marble island in Uncle Karl’s oversized kitchen.

  Pouring the thick milk over his cereal, Evan put some into a stained mug and topped it off with the coffee he knew she needed. He handed it to her before tucking into his deliciously over-sugared breakfast. Not like anyone would yell at him for it other than Audyn. If their parents hadn’t basically abandoned them, shoving them from one high-security relative to another for the last eight years, maybe they would. But their work came first, no matter what their children did.

  Evan tried not to be bitter about it. Sometimes it even worked.

  Skidding footsteps slammed from down the hall. “Guys, we may be in trouble. Big trouble!”

  “What’s up, Uncle Karl?” Evan asked around mouthfuls of cereal. Of all the relatives they’d bounced between since the trials, Karl was his favorite, but the man was the definition of eccentric. It wouldn’t surprise Evan if he had a death ray hiding somewhere and it was about to blow.

  “They’re onto me. I’m so close, I can’t shut the stations down now!”

  Ah, the strange black metal stations built into stone in his workroom that Evan and Audyn had been told to never, under any circumstances, touch.

  “Why would they want to stop you?”

  Karl ran a hand through his thin gray hair. “The Kros company is evil. I thought after all this time, they would have forgotten about me, but if the activity I intercepted through the network is right, we’re about to have company.”

  Kros? After their trials there, Evan hadn’t heard much about what they were doing. Some game. Despite the fact he loved to play video games, Evan wasn’t terribly interested in the one they were putting out.

  Maybe he was more bitter than he realized. It had temporarily helped their family, but it ruined everything since. Maybe it was just that autistic/ADD thing he did sometimes where he just plain didn’t like something. No reasoning, just gut level, but he’d learned to trust it. It was usually right.

  “How long do you think it’ll be?” Audyn asked. Her knuckles were white on the coffee mug, and Evan had a mental picture of it exploding everywhere from the strength of her grasp.

  “A day, maybe?”

  “Well, damn.”

  Peering out the window, Karl looked intense. “Don’t you remember anything from the trials?”

  “What do you mean? What about them? Wait, are you saying they’re here for us?! We haven’t even done anything!” Evan responded, the concern rising in his voice.

  “Too late, they’re here! Run to my office, you know what to do! Go!”

  Evan and Audyn didn’t waste any time and dashed to his office. Evan grabbed the fake candle stick, almost ripping it off the wall as he pulled down. The office’s hidden door slid open. With a last look back toward the kitchen, Evan frowned. He wasn’t going to be able to enjoy that sugary mess of a meal.

  Upon entering the office, contrary to Karl’s confidence moments earlier, neither of them knew what to do. It took a few seconds for Evan’s eyes to adjust to the low light. A cool blue glow emitted from the stations lined up across the length of the room. Each station nestled up against the solid rock wall.

  “I guess, now, we wait?” Audyn asked Evan.

  “I guess so,” he responded, heartbeat in his throat. How was he supposed to know?

  Evan could hear muffled voices on the other side of the door, but couldn’t make out what was being said. Neither Evan nor Audyn dared make a sound as they waited. After about thirty minutes Evan became restless.

  Karl was way too frantic for this to be another one of his survival games he challenged Evan and Audyn with when they were younger. Survive the Night, or Work Your Way Out of This Mess, were a couple of his favorite themes. Karl seemed to get a kick out of coming up with random scenarios. If nothing else, Evan appreciated Karl’s ability to distract him from everything else.

  Evan moved to the other side of the room, peering at the complete immersion virtual reality or “CIVR” station Karl had showed them when they first arrived.

  Karl was obsessed with his CIVR stations. He seemed almost as proud of these stations as he was his useless knowledge of sedimentary rocks and water alkalinity.

  Running his hands across the smooth stone surface, Evan tried to find any sign of where the door had appeared the other night. It was right here, he thought as he pounded on the front of the station a couple of times with his fists.

  More muffled shouting came from outside the office, and still no sign of Karl. Evan peered around the room. He inspected the smooth gray rock face that acted as a callous back drop for the CIVR stations. The stations were actually built into the solid rock. That must’ve been a pain to install, he thought as he continued to look around.

  Long clear tubes pumped glowing dark blue liquid throughout the room and into the stations.

  Evan moved to the pedestal where Karl entered the code the other day. He noticed four arrows, each one pointing in a different directio
n, like a compass. Below the arrows were the letters A through D and a large round red START button. He had a bad habit of messing things up, so he resisted the urge to press any buttons. This proved to be harder than he expected. His mind screamed out, Press. All. Buttons!

  Having no idea what the code could be, he hoped Karl was forgetful enough to write it down somewhere. If I were Karl, what would I use…

  He spotted Karl’s desk, which was covered in a jumble of sticky notes and old Honey Bun wrappers.

  Evan kept rifling, looking for anything that may give a clue to what the code could be. He opened the desk drawer. Inside he found a bunch of chewed pens, a couple paper clips, and an old 1990 Nintendo Power magazine with the popular game of the time, Contra, on the front.

  He flipped through the magazine mindlessly for a few seconds. Tossing it back on the desk it hit him. Contra. That’s it! Evan rushed over to the control panel. He knew what to do.

  “Evan, what are you doing?!” Audyn screamed across the room. “You know we’re not supposed to mess with that!”

  Evan ignored her. He was too excited to see if he was right. “I think I know how to open this...” he murmured as he reached the control panel.

  “Evan...No!” Audyn exclaimed.

  He looked at her, his excitement fading as he caught the look of concern on her face. “Audyn, we can’t go back there. We won’t go back there. I’m never going to let Kros near us again. If they find this room, we’re screwed. If we can hide in one of these stations, they won’t see us.” At least, that’s what he told her. He couldn’t tell her he wanted to try this thing out since he first saw it, could he?

  He returned to the control panel for the first station. Evan took a deep breath and placed his hands on the side of the control panel.

  He reached up and pressed the arrows. Starting at the arrow pointing north, he pressed it twice. It pulsed brightly as he pressed them. Next, he pressed south two times. Again, pulsing with acceptance. Finally, he alternated one east, one west, one east, finishing with one more push of the western button, followed by the letters B and A. The Konami Code. It was the popular Contra cheat code that gave you thirty lives. Evan knew right away.

  As soon as he pressed the Start button, he heard a soft click. As he removed his hand, the station began to glow faintly. The large outline of a door appeared on the station closest to them. Evan walked closer.

  “Evan, what are you doing, you idiot. Karl said we could die!” She scolded him in a loud whisper from across the room.

  “I think Karl wants us to do this, Audyn,” Evan said. “Think about it, why else would he send us in here?”

  Evan was now about five steps away from the door. Audyn moved to block Evan from entering the glowing door. As she rushed to Evan, she caught the edge of one of the control panels, knocking her off-balance, her arms pinwheeling as she struggled to stay on her feet. Her momentum sent them crashing through the illuminated door.

  They stood there for a moment, eyes held shut.

  “Is this the part where we’re turned into mush?” Evan asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  The door was gone, but the familiar whirring of the CIVR station pumping the cooling water through its labyrinth of tubes remained. Intense pain shot through his body bringing him to his knees. Evan felt as if there were a nest of rats inside his head, frantically trying to claw their way out from the inside. Tubes wrapped their way around, attaching at various points with a soft squelch. He saw the same happening to Audyn, her eyes wide with shock.

  Evan regained his sight enough to notice a small dull light in the distance. The light intensified as they were held in place. Closer and brighter, until the light was so bright he closed his eyes once more.

  “Where are…” Audyn started, but before she could finish, all went black.

  2

  AUDYN

  Audyn stood alone in the eerie darkness. She looked around, eyes straining, trying to make out anything familiar. The tubes that had attached themselves moments ago were gone.

  “Hello?” she called out. A light flickered in her periphery. Sharply turning her head, she focused on where she had seen the light and a chime sounded. A semi-translucent window was now in her vision:

  Welcome Back to Serein: Online!

  Prepare to embark on an adventure unlike any other. Here, who you are to become is decided by your feelings and your actions.

  //Error//reset//

  Warning: You will experience physical pain throughout this game. You may adjust the pain threshold settings in the interface. Pain can be reduced but not eliminated, please be aware of this.

  If at any point you feel the need to logout, access the personalized interface by voicing your selection or mentally selecting it. All settings within Serein can be accessed the same way.

  Have fun and good luck!

  What did it mean by welcome back? How do I get out of here? Physical pain, yeah, screw all that, she thought.

  As soon as she attempted to exit the game, another window popped up.

  Options

  Settings

  Exit Game

  Why is Exit grayed out? she thought as she attempted to press the hovering message in front of her. She reached for “Settings” and to her surprise, she was able to select it. It took her to a larger screen but, before she was able to continue, she received an error:

  Error./././

  Chip Malfunction…///

  Contact Admin…/./.

  Restarting..././.

  This isn’t good. Was this what Karl had mentioned? She started to panic. Karl said we could die if we entered. Am I dead? Stupid game.

  She looked at her hands and waved away the open window. Once closed, another chime sounded. She focused on the small blinking light in her periphery and a new window appeared.

  Character Creation: Choose your Path

  Human

  Giant

  Half-Giant

  Elf

  Half-Elf

  Reptilian

  Orc

  Drow Elf

  Woodland Elf

  Dwarf

  Half-Dwarf

  Goblin

  Gnome

  Halfling

  Locked

  Locked

  Random

  “What’s this?! I don’t want to create a character, I just want to get out of here!” Frustrated, Audyn waved her hands like she was swatting at a fly, turning in circles.

  “Why can’t I see anything!? Evan…Karl…”

  Everywhere she turned, the translucent screen stayed fixed in her vision. It was clear she was going to have to choose something.

  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” she screamed into the darkness, throwing her hands in the air.

  After a few minutes she was able to calm herself enough to review the choices. As she reached out to select her race, the screen disappeared, and a new message appeared:

  error://

  Welcome Back Half-Elf!

  error:// restart //

  “Oh, come on! I didn’t even press anything! Half-Elf?! What? What is that even? What error? That’s it, I’m going to die here. This is going to happen. Screw you and your stupid game, Karl! I can’t even…”

  Audyn straightened and punched at the window aggressively to accept the prompt. “Whatever, just get me the hell out of here!”

  “You don’t have to get snippy. One moment…”

  This last prompt caught Audyn off guard. She immediately felt as if someone was watching her. She looked around, frantically trying to find an exit. The prompt was replaced by a voice.

  “Please don’t freak out. Audyn, it’s Karl. I’m sorry but I warned you guys not to go into those CIVR stations. I don’t have time to explain now, but I can’t get you out yet.”

  “What do you mean you don’t have time? What is going on? I don’t know what I am supposed to do. How come you can’t just put in your code and get me out of here?”

  “Just try to stay calm.”
br />   Audyn ran as fast as she could into the darkness, trying to find a way out. “Calm? CALM! I’ve got your calm right here, Karl!”

  “Ok, while you have your little nervous breakdown, try to listen. The menu you are in right now is going to keep you in a state of suspension until you finish. Once you are in the game, I will lose contact with you.”

  “Didn’t you hack into their system, Karl? How do you not have a way to get us out of here?”

  “It’s not that easy. I promise I will do everything in my power to get you out. I will do my best to make sure you are safe on this end.”

  “How’s it not that easy? Pull the freakin’ plug! Open the door! I’m not playing this ridiculous game.”

  “Listen, I was able to get Kros to leave after they didn't find anything, but they know I'm hiding something, so it will only be a matter of time before they return.”

  “Karl, what am I supposed to do?!”

  “You're smart and resourceful, you’ll be ok. Try to use your head and your heart. This game is unlike anything that's ever been released. Your decisions and how you interact with others will determine your future in the game.”

  “How am I supposed to use my heart? And what’s that stuff about feeling pain? Where’s Evan?”

  “Audyn, you and your brother have more heart than anyone I know. You two will be fine. About the pain...Let’s just say, if you are attacked, fall too far, or anything that would cause physical pain in our world, you’ll feel it in the game world. They were supposed to remove the pain settings, since it was too much of a liability. Doesn’t look like made it that far yet. I’ve tried to reduce the settings on my end, but it looks like something was messed up when you two entered together. Actually, all kinds of things seem messed up. Just try not to get hurt.”

  “Karl, if I live through this, I’m going to kill you.”